This week we welcome ASA International. It is one of the world’s largest international microfinance institutions providing small, socially responsible loans, averaging about $166, to 2.4m low-income entrepreneurs, most of whom are women, across 13 countries in Asia and Africa. Listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker “ASAI” it has a market capitalization of about $108m. "ASA" stands for the "Association for Social Advancement". ASA NGO was founded in 1978 in Bangladesh by a microfinance pioneer, Mr Shafiqul Haque Chowdhury, who died in February 2021. ASA NGO was the driving force behind the establishment of ASA International. The "ASA model" has been described by some as the "Henry Ford Motor model of microfinance", which is to say that it runs an extremely low-cost and highly efficient credit delivery model with a simple, but very effective credit assessment process. ASA International adopted the "ASA Model" as developed by ASA the NGO, and greenfielded 13 microfinance institutions across 13 countries in Asia and Africa. The majority of these institutions are regulated as "microfinance banks" or "microfinance institutions" in their home markets. From ASA International we are delighted to welcome Martijn Bollen, General counsel of ASA International, a position he has held since 2007, and Karin Kersten, Executive director of the Board and Director of Corporate Development, who joined in October 2021. Martijn and Karin can be reached on LinkedIn or via the website at https://www.asa-international.com/.  This podcast is brought to you by Financial Due Diligence Associates, a multilingual consulting partnership founded by Guy Rodwell, specialised in holistic, relevant and concise analysis of financially inclusive companies.  FDDA also works with financial inclusive institutions to improve their corporate governance and reporting, besides helping asset managers access French institutions through an alliance with Oxondo, a leading Paris-based third party marketer.  You can reach FDDA by contacting Guy Rodwell on LinkedIn, or by emailing us at [email protected].