VisionFund Welcomes Two New Board Members

Sunday, June 16, 2019
New board members Andrew and Petronella
Sunday, June 16, 2019

LONDON – 16 June 2019. VisionFund International is pleased to announce the appointment of two new members to its board of directors; Petronella Dhitima and Andrew Morley.

Ms. Petronella Dhitima is a microfinance expert with over 26 years of experience in 17 African countries and other developing countries in Asia and Latin America, and manages her own consulting firm, Mustard Seed Advisory (MSA). Ms. Dhitima has been teaching at the Boulder Microfinance Training Program for the past 19 years. She is an accredited SMART Assessor with CFI SMART Campaign and Master Trainer for the ITC-ILO Making Microfinance Work courses. Prior to setting up MSA, Ms Dhitima worked for Accion, leading technical assistance teams with banks and microfinance banks in Tanzania, Ghana and Nigeria.

Mr. Andrew Morley is the newly appointed President & Chief Executive Officer of World Vision International, the global relief, development and advocacy organization. Prior to joining World Vision, Mr. Morley led and built successful digital businesses across the internet, retail, technology, telecom, financial services and media sectors. He spent much of his career in senior international assignments, and has lived and worked in Africa, Australia, France, Germany, Singapore and the United States. 

“We welcome the rich experience, wisdom and knowledge that Petronella and Andrew bring to VisionFund, especially as we build on our strategy to deliver impact sustainably at scale, in alignment with World Vision’s strategy - Our Promise,” said Michael Mithika, President and Chief Executive Officer of VisionFund International.  


“As VisionFund celebrates 15 years of empowering lives through economic empowerment, we continue to reinforce our operations to deliver greater impact in the vulnerable communities we serve. In 2018, we served more than 1.1 million clients who, in turn, improved the lives of more than 4.1 million children. Our network of MFIs continue to focus on delivering relevant and affordable solutions to the vulnerable and underserved communities to improve livelihoods, while conducting pioneering pilot work in post-disaster recovery finance, SME finance and refugee finance. We are excited about what is to come and feel confident about our ability to do more to empower more clients, while enabling vulnerable children and communities to thrive".

For more information about VisionFund’s leadership team, visit: Leadership at VisionFund

 

-ENDS-

 
ABOUT VISIONFUND INTERNATIONAL

VisionFund International, World Vision’s microfinance arm, has been improving the lives of children in the developing world for 15 years. By offering small loans and other financial services, clients develop successful businesses, enabling their children to grow up healthy and educated. In 2018, VisionFund International’s network of microfinance institutions provided loans to 1.1 million clients, with nearly three-quarters of these going to women and over a third to clients actively involved in farming. Repayment rates were 97.8%. Also in 2018, over 4.1 million children were positively impacted through its MFI network located across 28 countries in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.