Description:
"We had one of our strongest quarters ever, adding 39,673 new customers. As of our mid-year mark, we
have added 56,543 farm customers – on target to reaching 118,000 new customers by the end of the
fiscal year in June 2018.
Our Farm Tech business had a strong second quarter with 3,672 new farm customers purchasing one
of our irrigation products - a striking 81.5 percent YoY increase. Earned revenues totaled US$303,000
representing a YoY increase of 66 percent. We launched a new mist micro-irrigation product designed to
replace inefficient furrow irrigation on small horticulture plots of half an acre. We sold 138 “Lotus” solarpowered irrigation pumps compared to 28 unit sales during the same period last year. This quarter Ryan
McCoy assumed leadership of this business unit. He joins with extensive business and finance experience
and holds an MBA from Duke and a finance degree from MIT. Our Farm Advisory Services had another strong quarter with over 20,000 farmers attending a
technique training, given average uptake rates of 40-50 percent, we anticipate at least 8,000 new
farmers will adopt one or more of our techniques, hitting our target for the quarter (actual adopter
numbers are finalized after the rice season). Our field agronomists engaged farmers through 1,283
in-village presentations, which remain our primary service delivery channel. These field agronomists
are essential to our mission as they deliver technique advice, pest and disease solutions, and tailored
responses to farming challenges throughout the farming cycle. Across our 21 different townships, we’ve
reached an estimated 40 percent market penetration among farmers growing rice. Our year-end
target is to reach 48,400 new farmers and a total of 96,000 active adopting farmers.
Farm lending efforts added 14,709 new customers this quarter. Across our lending operations in 2,065
villages we now have 91,208 active customers. Our portfolio is now USD18.2 million with a PAR 30
delinquency rate of 0.36 percent. Savoeung Chann, our General Manager resigned this quarter after
two years of service. A three-person leadership team is overseeing management during the transition
period until a replacement is settled. The legal separation of Proximity Finance from Proximity Designs
continues to face delays from the government but is expected to be completed by April 2018.
Economic research efforts this quarter focused on deepening our analysis of the current situation
in Rakhine State and researching options for addressing the crisis of 650,000 refugees who fled to
Bangladesh. As conditions in the camps become more extreme with increased international pressure
and ongoing instability, the threat of a long-running internal, regional and international conflict is
growing. It is uncertain if either Bangladesh or Myanmar would agree to accept large numbers of
refugees as citizens, even with resettlement aid. Reversing the damage will take a multipronged effort
beyond the ability of any single country..."
Source/publisher:
Proximity Designs
Date of Publication:
2017-12-31
Date of entry:
2019-08-05
Grouping:
- Individual Documents
Category:
Countries:
Myanmar
Language:
English
Local URL:
Format:
pdf
Size:
723.76 KB
Resource Type:
text
Text quality:
- Good