Al Tadamun Microfinance Foundation started in 1996 as a Group Guaranteed Lending and Saving (GGLS) pilot project developed by the Egyptian Field Office of Save the Children USA, in partnership with the local NGO Women’s Health Improvement Association (WHIA). The project was designed to meet the needs of underprivileged Egyptian women micro-entrepreneurs for a source of finance to set up, sustain and expand their microenterprises, thus generating more income for themselves and their families. In 1998, the GGLS program had developed well beyond the pilot phase, which encouraged Save the Children, using private sources of funding, to expand to the neighborhoods of Imbaba, Abdeen and Dar El Salam. In July 2003, the three branches were merged as a partnership between Save the Children’s Egyptian Field Office and WHIA into a fully autonomous program. The program was renamed Al Tadamun Microfinance Program running under the legal umbrella of WHIA. On March 22, 2009, Al Tadamun Microfinance became an independent foundation under the legal umbrella of the Ministry of Social Solidarity under number 573 in accordance with the provision of Law No. 84 of 2002 and its implementing regulations. In January 2015, Al Tadamun came under the supervision of the Financial Regulatory Authority in accordance with the microfinance law no. 141 of 2014. On October 29, 2015 Al Tadamun obtained the license no. 1117 for practicing microfinance.
