MSBs are household-based activities, where there may be no clear demarcation between family needs-based activities (like consumption) vis-a-vis income-generating activities. Nonetheless, access to simple technology embodied in equipment that can be powered by alternative energy systems provides a basis for sustaining and expanding the householdbased income generating business activity.

41. For instance when lease financing makes possible the acquisition of alternative energy systems that facilitate and increase the household's access to water supplies, productivity of labor is correspondingly enhanced. It is also probable that, in the project design of the alternative energy programs specific statistical data and information on the number of household-based MSB establishments that would directly be benefited simply was not readily available. This would then result in defining beneficiary targets as simply "households and small commercial establishments" rather than better-identified and defined MSBs.

# **Orient Leasing Pakistan Limited (OLP)**

42. The market niche chosen by the company is the medium to small private limited company with assets of Rs 20 - 30 million (_ US$ 0.900 - 1.350 million equivalent). The company likewise had already written substantial lease business with the small scale enterprise sector including some leasing business with microenterprises in Pakistan. The main constraint faced by OLP in developing this MSB-oriented business was its lack of Rupee resources. The average lease in its portfolio was Rs 250,000 (_ US$ 11,300), consisting mainly of leases of small-ticket equipment, although 34% of contracts written were for leases below this average lease contract amount.<sup>20</sup> 43. The organization's core competencies are its ability to carry out rigorous credit screening processes on target clients, and the quality of its staff. Its distinctive competence is identification of an unserved market niche in which it operates and where competition is low. OLP does not seek to compete in other market segments but will engage in price competition to hold an existing client. The company culture is to a very large extent determined by the culture of its Japanese parent Orix Corporation. Unlike some other leasing companies in Pakistan, OLP does not normally seek either bank guarantees or other collateral security but satisfies itself as to the continued viability of the business and its ability to generate the required levels of lease rental payments from the asset being leased.

44. When the Microenterprise Project was launched in 1992, OLP was the sole leasing company that satisfied the Bank's eligibility criteria for participation. In 1995, two other leasing companies-Pakistan Industrial and Commercial Leasing Company Limited and Pakistan Industrial Leasing Corporation Limited-were recommended as

> 20 The monetary size of this average lease contract is obviously much larger than the typical amount for a microfmance loan -- especially because microfmance transactions highlighted in the literature deal with short-term revolving loans for working capital, and seldom for equipment financing. The experience of a number of microfinance institutions, however, shows that financing for equipment and tangible assets is generally for larger amounts and longer terms.

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