Barakat Foundation Institute has targeted major developments in the applications of Microfinance and Social Entrepreneurial/Venture Philanthropic efforts for the poor and underprivileged rural areas of IRAN.

Our plan for the years 2015 is to manage the necessary funds that will focus on the development of Infrastructure, Education, Health and Economic Development needs through building schools, health care centers, supporting local entrepreneurs and SMEs (using Micro-investments and Venture Capital means) and providing various financial services (Micro-banking with an emphasis on mobile banking and Micro-insurance through electronic means and etc...) to the underdeveloped rural regions of the country.

We plan to be instrumental in building 250 schools (1000 classes) and create at least 60,000 direct and stable jobs in the underdeveloped rural regions. We are currently managing the necessary funds invested in all of the above mentioned areas (Infrastructure, Education, Health and Economic Developments) and have built 125 schools and created close to 20,000 direct jobs in the rural regions of Iran.

To be effective for reaching our goals we need to do proper research, analysis and develop executive plans. We currently have two PhDs in Finance and Economics on our staff plus several MBA graduates that are active in all of our analysis. We are also using several multinational firms and outside experts for most of our development plans.

On the applications of Bottom-Up vs. Top-Down “Pro-Poor Model” we have the following view for Iran:

Iran has a vast geography with a good part of it in desert like, mountainous and uninhabitable conditions. We have different nomadic tribes and groups that do live in these regions for historical and tribal reasons. The country has a high population density in certain cosmopolitan regions and a low population density in most rural areas. Due to such a demographic and geographic setup, our historic experience has proven that neither a Top-Down nor a Bottom-Up approach will work in the low population density rural regions. Many programs and funds were allocated to such ventures and they did not provide the expected results in the minds of our higher authorities. This was mainly due to the inability to create the necessary structures to coalesce the critical mass required for a sustainable and effective Top-Down or Bottom-Up program in the low population density rural areas.

To correct and manage this problem, Barakat Foundation Institute was established to develop the Social Entrepreneurial/Venture Philanthropic efforts through Joint Venture structures with the local entrepreneurs and improve the economic abilities of the individuals, groups and business units (SMEs), who are able to run activities but lack the required knowledge and skills in less developed and deprived rural regions of the country. Our model was based on a “Middle-Down Approach” through the participation of the local entrepreneurs. The Institute was established to identify and support the opportunities available for the private local entrepreneurs with economic incentives so that they can act as the focal centers and coalescing points for growth and creators of local jobs in the low density and less developed rural regions of the country.

We realized that to be able to create a structure that would be stable and sustainable for economic development and job creation, it is important to support the local entrepreneurs through the creation of SMEs in a joint venture structure (Social Entrepreneurship). This meant supporting intermediary organizations (SMEs) that would cover several low population density rural regions and would have the economic interest to sustain, monitor, stay responsible for job creation and help the improvement of the overall well being of the rural regions that they are involved in.

In the past two years, our Social Entrepreneurial/Venture Philanthropic efforts or the “Middle-Down Pro-Poor Model” has been considered very successful and effective by the higher authorities in the country and we are being fully supported by the local, state and the central government. As of now we have been managing funds through syndication and other forms of financial leveraging for 42 economic projects in 15 states covering 100+ rural regions. The projects cover close to 300,000+ individuals in the underdeveloped rural regions of Iran.

We are planning to continue and expand our Social Entrepreneurial/Venture Philanthropic efforts with the objective of managing above $2 billion of funds through various forms of syndication and financial leverages. We are also looking at different Islamic methods available for raising domestic and international funds for this purpose. In particular we are actively looking at:

1. Means, Methods and Ways of implementing Mobile based Islamic Banking services in the underprivileged and poor rural areas of Iran. 
2. Means, Methods and Ways of implementing Mobile based Islamic Insurance services in the underprivileged and poor rural areas of Iran. 

3. Means, Methods and Ways of implementing Mobile based OTC based Trading & Brokerage services in the underprivileged and poor rural areas of Iran.