BRAC International: Comparative analysis of six microfinance entities & their impact on economy

Abstract

Doing internship and writing a report is actually an integral part of the BBA program. In order to complete the degree I need to write this report by considering both my academic knowledge that I achieved from the program’s courses and the practical experience that I gained while working at BRAC International where I have been working as an intern for almost six months now. I joined BRAC in January and since then I have been working with the Finance and Accounts unit of BRAC International. Working there has been amazing since I actually got to learn a lot about the practical way of doing work in the finance field. However, due to the ongoing pandemic the learning process has slowed down a bit in the last two months. BRAC is one of the leading NGOs in Bangladesh with two distinct parts, BRAC Bangladesh and BRAC International. While BRAC Bangladesh looks at the operations done in Bangladesh; BRAC International simply looks over the foreign operations. These two parts work separately on their different goals with the help of their separate departments. However, BRAC International at the end of the year reports to the main branch of BRAC which is BRAC Bangladesh and BRAC Bangladesh also helps BRAC International with various resources such as financial help for running the offices overseas without any difficulty. The official chain of command is maintained in such a way that both BRAC Bangladesh and BRAC International works with the same principles and guidelines in order to become a single entity at the end of the day which is BRAC. While working for BRAC International I could closely observe the operations of the six foreign microfinance entities that BRAC has overseas. The microfinance entities allow the underprivileged people with different background to take loans in order to further improve their condition. The loan programs are designed in a way that can match the need of the local people considering their social and economic situation. These six microfinance entities are also the key of income for BRAC International. While some of the microfinance entities are doing great, others are struggling quite a bit. Since I joined BRAC during the time of audit I could see and analyze the financial statements of all the entities. Therefore, I have compared the key financial elements such as income, equity, liability etc. to shed light on the growth of the entities. I have also used financial ratios to actually compare the entities with each other and ranked them in order to see which one is leading and which one needs further improvement. In my report I have also tried to compare the microfinance program of BRAC Bangladesh and BRAC International in order to see which one is doing great in terms of better income, overall customer growth etc. I have also tried to shed light on the economic situation of the foreign countries and the help that six microfinance entities have brought with them.