The challenges in development often seem insurmountable. They overwhelm - tions and the builders of their most basic institutions. I am often asked how dev- opment finance agencies can work together to meet this challenge. In reply I invite you to read a story about cooperation in re-building one of the most basic insti- tions of any society -- the banking system. KfW Bankengruppe places great emphasis on financial sector development. Our experience in our own country, and beyond our borders, shows that one of the first steps is building a banking system that fuels growth through investment in enterprises. Micro, small and medium enterprises are the backbone of many economies; they are also the wealth of the people and generate their hope in the future. We believe that the depth of the financial sector is related to economic growth; the growth and safety of deposits, the facility of payments, and the in- vation to develop new products and services that strengthen markets and promote investment. A strong banking system supports economic growth by attracting unproductive capital and injecting it into the economy, increasing the productivity of the country's capital base and leveraging it by attracting outside capital.
The largest retail branch bank network is built in one of the most formidable environments in the world. This book takes the journey from Year Zero to the present, tracing the trials and triumphs of a group of people as they built an employment generation project for demobilized soldiers in 1992 into the largest commercial retail bank branch network in Cambodia by 2003. Along the way they influenced the nation's financial system and stimulated a banking industry that serves poor and low-income people. The book offers a tantalizing analysis of events, organizational dynamics and a business model that incorporates profit and purpose. It examines the transition from the microfinance field that is jealously guarded by donors to a breakthrough response of commercial banking for the people.
