[1] Kashf is regarded as the first microfinance institution (MFI) of Pakistan that uses village banking methodology in microcredit to alleviate poverty by providing affordable financial and non-financial services to low income households - particularly for women, to build their capacity and enhance their economic role.

With headquarters in Lahore, Punjab, Kashf have regional offices in five major cities and over 200 branches across Pakistan.

[4] In 1993, Zafar, an Ashoka Fellow, was a Development economics student at Yale, where she came to know about the pioneer of microcredit and microfinance sector, Muhammad Yunus of Grameen Bank and abandoned her plans to become an investment banker.

During her fieldwork trip to Tharparkar, she noticed that the desire of women's who wanted to work and generate income for their families.

She decided to work for their sustainability and quit her job at World Bank and wrote to Dr. Yunus about her intentions, who flew her to Bangladesh where she spent ten-weeks at Grameen Foundation, attending workshops, sessions, trainings, visiting branches of Grameen Bank and studying their business model, and researching from the clients of foundation.

Zafar traveled for a year touring Nepal and India understanding the structure of low-income households and was given $10,000 loan from Dr. Yunus to start her own organization.

The importance of standardized products, systems and policies, the simplification of procedures and reporting requirements, along with the significance of focusing on client satisfaction and developing clear cut financial performance indicators was highlighted.

The following years were focused on growth of organization, with the main aspect of this phase was to make the branch structure leaner and more efficient; an aspect which was critical for ensuring the long term viability of the programme, along with setting up a cash flow model which would ensure the sustainability of a branch within a set time period.

By early 2001, Kashf had a network of five branches in Lahore and a client base of 5,088 customers located in 214 centers.

[6] Years, 2001-2004 saw the enhance outreach and deepen product offerings through cost effective and sustainable Kashf branches.

Kashf managed growth by widening outreach and deepening access by pioneering new products like micro-insurance.

Kashf focuses product design, frequent small paybacks, and group dynamics in order to make micro-according financing successful, according to organization, "It’s important for clients to pay back their loans in regular and small amounts on a monthly basis.

"[5] The mission of Kashf is to "Serve all with dignity by providing quality and cost effective microfinance services to low income households that alleviate poverty and enable women to become active agents of social and economic change, through building alliances, promoting linkages and developing entrepreneurship."

Its approach leverages available capital and promotes greater transparency, sustainability and higher standards of business practices.

The foundation assess families for their business plan, validity of their proposal, future prospects, and their reputation within their community.