Founded and guided by His Highness the Aga Khan, the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) brings together a number of development agencies, institutions, and programmes that work primarily in the poorest parts of Asia and Africa. AKDN is a contemporary endeavor of the Ismaili Imamat to realize the social conscience of Islam through institutional action. AKDN agencies conduct their programmes without regard to the faith, origin or gender.

The Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance (AKAM) operates microfinance programs and institutions in over 20 countries throughout the developing world. The underlying objectives of the program are to alleviate economic and social exclusion; diminish vulnerability of poor population; and reduce poverty. The program's aim is to achieve these objectives based on efficiency, discipline and operational and financial sustainability.

Since its establishment in 2005, The Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance (AKAM) has taken over 25 years of micro finance activities, programs and banks that were administered by sister agencies within the Aga Khan Development Network. This amounts to a portfolio at the end of June 2006 of over US$ 52 million in outstanding micro-loans to over 97,000 beneficiaries in 12 countries. AKAM is a not-for-profit, non-denominational, international development agency created under Swiss law. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. It is governed by an independent Board of Directors. The Chairman of the Board is His Highness the Aga Khan.