Travel diary of a Solidarity Banker in Kyrgyzstan
Launched by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole SA in 2018, Solidarity Bankers is a skills-based volunteer program open to all Crédit Agricole Group employees, supporting microfinance institutions and impactful businesses supported by the Foundation. Discover the opinion piece by Marc Diakhaté, Account Manager in the Structured Finance Distribution team at CACIB, who traveled to Kyrgyzstan in September 2021 as a Solidarity Banker to support Salym, a microfinance institution supported by the Foundation.
Program discovery and preparation
I have always had a keen interest in the fight against poverty. I participated in community projects based on microcredit in Vietnam in 2008 and then in Senegal in 2016, and I took a microfinance course during my university exchange in Manila in 2011, but I had not yet had the opportunity to work in a real financial institution offering this type of product. Applying for the Solidarity Bankers program and in particular for the mission to Salym in Kyrgyzstan was an obvious choice for me.
Salym is a microfinance institution that provides financial services to low-income populations in Kyrgyzstan and the mission was to introduce the environmental and social (E&S) risk management approach into the lending process.
To frame the mission, I was able to draw on my skills in internal control and risk management – having been an internal auditor and then a credit analyst – and I benefited from training from the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation on Salym and Kyrgyzstan. From mid-July, we began preparing for the mission with Salym so that I could become familiar with their organization and procedures. In addition, I researched various resources on microcredit and took some private lessons in Russian – which was my third language during my studies – in order to be able to have simple conversations on site without an interpreter.
The mission to Kyrgyzstan
I visited Salym's premises in Bishkek for two weeks in September 2021.
I arrived in Bishkek on the first Sunday of September and, on Monday morning, I presented the mission during a kick-off meeting with the entire Management Committee. During the first week, I met with the main managers and also some borrowers, with the aim of learning about Salym's operating conditions and mapping the main E&S risks inherent in lending activities.
During the second week, I discussed with management a first version of the risk map, then possible developments in the credit process to integrate E&S risk management. At the end of the second week, I conducted training on E&S risk management for Salym's Management Committee and presented the roadmap for deploying the E&S risk management system. The pace during the mission was fast. Thus, I was able to finalize the initially planned deliverables (E&S risk matrix, proposal for a new credit process, training, roadmap) during my stay on site.
Coming home
Back in Paris, at the request of Salym's CEO, I proposed a new, more comprehensive version of the Kyrgyz microfinance institution's E&S policy. In mid-October, we held a final videoconference meeting to discuss my proposal, with a view to rolling out the E&S risk management system in 2022.
I was delighted to be able to put my skills to work for a high-impact company, in a culturally unknown environment (Central Asia remains a landlocked and relatively untouristy area) and a particularly exotic one. I returned with the image of a dynamic country, rich in numerous entrepreneurial opportunities.
