Start Up Lending Evaluation Paper – USAID LENS – Jordan, 2019

ABSTRACT: The USAID Local Enterprise Support Project (LENS) is a five-year activity that helped create new loan products for micro- and small enterprises (MSEs) in Jordan, mainly through micro-finance institutions (MFIs). The start-up loan product created clear financing opportunities for some 1,806 businesses prior to FY19. However, the program did unwittingly extend credit to individuals who used the funds for debt repayment and consumption rather than business purposes.