2 nouveaux partenaires en Inde, Mitrata et Light

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La Fondation Grameen Crédit Agricole a poursuivi au second semestre 2023 ses investissements en Asie avec la signature de 2 nouveaux partenariats en Inde où elle compte deux nouveaux partenaires.

Mitrata Inclusive financial services private limited a démarré sous la forme d’un programme ONG en 2010. L’institution de microfinance a été créée en 2017 par Dr. Aqueel Ahmed Khan and Mr. Prabhakar Rawat. L’IMF se concentre sur les prêts aux PME, motivée par l’idée que que les entreprises commerciales sont l’épine dorsale de l’économie du pays. La promesse de Mitrata est de fournir aux femmes rurales des services financiers et non financiers accessibles, transparents et appropriés pour faciliter leur autonomisation économique.

La Fondation Grameen Crédit Agricole a ainsi accordé un premier prêt à Mitrata, pour un montant en monnaie locale équivalent à 1,5millions d’euros sur une période de quatre ans.A ce jour, l’IMF gère un portfeuille de 27 millions d’Euros et compte 109 000 clients dont 100% de femmes. 23% d’entre elles souscrivent leur tout premier prêt.

La Fondation a également réalisé un premier financement d’un montant équivalent à 2M d’euros auprès de l’institution de microfinance indienne Light.

L’objectif de Light est de développer des produits financiers et déployer la technologie, de manière innovante, pour proposer une expérience client fiable. Light Microfinance sert les zones rurales et périurbaines, avec un accent particulier sur les femmes vulnérables. A ce jour l’institution compte près de 426 000 clients dont 100% de femmes. 84% de totalité de la clientèle de Light se trouve en zone urbaine.

Avec ces nouveaux prêts, la Fondation compte à présent 16 partenaires en Asie du Sud, dont 5 en Inde.

Pour plus d’informations sur les partenaires de la Fondation, cliquez ici.

 

The Foundation invests in a new country, Tanzania

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During 2023, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation made new investments in a new country in Sub-Saharan Africa: Tanzania. She thus financed the microfinance institution VisionFund Tanzania, for an equivalent amount of 2 million euros. VisionFund Tanzania's mission is to provide a better future for children by empowering families to create income and jobs and unlocking the economic potential of communities.

This MFI is committed to developing the microfinance sector in Tanzania based on best practices in microfinance and to strengthening the sector with a view to developing a credit culture.

To date, the institution has nearly 40,440 clients, including 59% women. This clientele is located in rural areas.

 

2 Foundation partners honored in the 2023 microfinance index

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When defining its impact model in 2019, the Foundation set itself the goal of improving the living conditions of vulnerable populations. To measure the achievement of this objective, the Foundation needed to collect data on the ground, directly from its partners' clients.

In 2022, the Foundation contributed to the first microfinance index created by 60-Decibels, a company specializing in social impact measurement, which surveyed nearly 18,000 clients of 72 microfinance institutions in 41 countries that year.

In 2023, 60-Decibels expanded its index coverage by surveying more than 30,000 clients from nearly 110 MFIs across 30 countries. This year, the Foundation once again contributed to the index by co-financing eight impact studies to expand the number of partners it engages with on the theme of impact and contribute to a particularly innovative and promising initiative for the sector to improve its impact.

What results in 2023?

  • Clients continue to access microcredit for the first time;
  • Customers who use their loans for business purposes (rather than consumption) report better outcomes for their households and businesses;
  • There is a repayment burden, which has an impact on individuals and households. This last point reminds us of the importance of having institutions that are committed to applying customer protection standards, such as microfinance institutions committed to the customer protection path.

The Foundation's partners are on average outperforming the 2023 benchmark (well done to them!) and some are even champions in their region (MLF Zambia in Africa and Humo in Asia).

The Foundation has therefore decided to engage, in collaboration with the other co-financiers (Global Partnerships, SIDI, Symbiotics, Gojo, Triodos, Triple Jump, Baobab Group, VisionFund International), discussions with each MFI on the results in order to support them in taking action. Most MFIs plan to communicate the results (internally and externally), to deepen customer surveys to explore the findings that have interested them, or to improve communication in branches.

The Foundation hopes to continue its collaboration with its partners and 60-Decibels in the coming years to continue to engage its partners in measuring results, so that they can improve their products and services through customer feedback.

To discover the full report, Click here

For the 15th anniversary, 4 of our partners sent a message

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During the SAT 2023, in Lomé, Togo, we were able to meet different partners.

Strong partnerships are built on mutual trust, meaningful collaboration, and shared experiences. With that in mind, we're excited to share the inspiring voices and stories of our partners. Discover these captivating stories celebrating several years of shared journeys.

Discover the one from Kaba Moise Senghor, Managing Director of VisionFund Senegal, a microfinance institution located in Senegal

VisionFund Senegal is a microfinance institution founded by World Vision International whose mission is to facilitate access to local financial services for rural and vulnerable populations, the opportunity to launch or develop income-generating activities, and, in general, the possibility of improving their living conditions. @VisionFund Senegal primarily targets women micro-entrepreneurs, using the group lending methodology.

VisionFund Senegal has 58,895 beneficiaries, including 98% women and 74% in rural areas, as of September 2023.

 

Mariama Yvette Moudraogo, Vice-President of the Management Board of GRAINE, a microfinance institution located in Burkina Faso.

GRAINE SARL is a microfinance institution founded in 2006 and initiated by Catholic Relief Services (CRS). Its mission is to help improve the economic and social conditions of poor populations in Burkina Faso, primarily women living in rural areas, by providing them with appropriate financial services.

GRAINE SARL has 100,549 beneficiaries in October 2023, including 62,3% women and 60% in rural areas.

 

Aloïse Aly Ndiaye, Deputy Director General of CAURIE MicroFinance, a microfinance institution located in Senegal and one of the Foundation's oldest partners, since 2009 

Caurie makes a lasting contribution to the economic and social advancement of vulnerable micro-entrepreneurs, mainly women, by offering them appropriate financial products and services.

CAURIE has 72,502 beneficiaries including 83% women and 62% in rural areas, in September 2023.

 

Razack Dimon Challa, Head of the Activities Coordination Service at RENACA, an institution located in Benin

RENACA aims to strengthen the entrepreneurial economic activity of vulnerable rural and urban populations by providing them with financial and non-financial services. The institution encourages its members to save, with these deposits serving to fund a common fund, which provides a basis for granting loans to small producers.

RENACA has 55,423 beneficiaries, including 60% women and 40% from rural areas.

 

To learn more about the organizations we support, Click here 

A look back in pictures: celebrating the Foundation’s 15th anniversary

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On November 28, 2023, Crédit Agricole SA and the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of the Foundation by organizing a Night of Inclusion at the Philanthro-Lab in Paris, and brought together 150 guests. After 15 years of action, the Foundation and its co-founders reaffirmed their commitment to inclusive and sustainable finance, alongside the Foundation's directors and partners. Foundation President Raphaël Appert opened the evening by recalling the Foundation's origins and taking stock of these 15 years.

The evening was introduced by Raphaël Appert, President, and Véronique Faujour, General Delegate of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation.

Véronique Faujour, the Foundation's Executive Director, then unveiled the Foundation's ambitions and its roadmap for at least the next 15 years. The evening then focused on the theme of inclusion, with various speakers:

Professor Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank and member of the Board of Directors ofThe Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Bertrand Badré, Managing Partner and founder of Blue like an Orange Sustainable Capital and Yann Arthus Bertrand spoke to provide the context for inclusion.

 

Medha Wilson, Managing Director of the MicroLoan UK Foundation, a partner of the Foundation, and Frédérique Bedos, journalist and filmmaker, spoke respectively to explain how financial inclusion and support for small farmers in Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Malawi is being implemented on the ground and how to improve the inclusion of women entrepreneurs.

Matthew Tordeur, adventurer and speaker, member of the Society of French Explorers, concluded the conference.

A graphic facilitator summarized the various interventions live in drawings.

And finally, clown analysts livened up the evening!

Discover the film that was shown at the opening of the conference and which takes stock of the 15 years of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation.

THE FOUNDATION: 15 YEARS OF ACTION FOR FINANCIAL INCLUSION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

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For 15 years, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation has contributed to the fight against poverty and inequality through financial inclusion, particularly for women and in rural areas of some of the most fragile countries. It provides long-term support to microfinance institutions and social impact businesses through a comprehensive relationship with each partner, with financing through loans or guarantees, technical assistance missions, equity investments, and as an investment fund advisor.

As of the end of September 2023, the Foundation was operating in 37 countries, 79 partners were supported including 69 microfinance institutions And 10 impact companies with an outstanding amount of 87.8 million Euros.

The Foundation was born from the meeting of two cultures

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation emerged from the Crédit Agricole cooperative movement, which financed French farmers, to whom no one lent in the 19th century. The Foundation embodies Professor Yunus's vision that lending to the poor creates jobs and generates sustainable income for the benefit of all. This is microcredit, born in the late 1970s in Bangladesh. Professor Yunus's Grameen Trust and the Crédit Agricole Group are driven by a shared mission: to provide access to essential financial services to those excluded from the traditional financial system, particularly women, in rural areas so that they can develop their own businesses and in the most vulnerable countries.

The Foundation stands out by operating in difficult areas excluded from financial services, with unstable geopolitical and economic contexts (in the Sahel region, for example), and by supporting its partners over the long term. Over the past 15 years, the Foundation has established a socially responsible partnership.

The reality of borrowing customers

Microfinance positively impacts clients' decision-making power, empowers women entrepreneurs, and strengthens their overall socioeconomic status. All stakeholders are working to continuously support them, but they face current challenges: difficulties encountered due to rising risks for microfinance institutions and clients (over-indebtedness), the difficulty of measuring impact, limited job creation, and climate change.

Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation’s 2025 Ambitions.

  • Supporting its partners' digital transformation and adaptation to climate change through comprehensive advice.
  • Promote entrepreneurship, with priority given to women, and support small agricultural producers to address the challenges of digital transformations and adaptation to climate change.

 Five key dates

2009 : The Foundation grants a first loan from the Foundation in Kosovo to the microfinance institution KRK, in the amount of 2 million Euros

2010 : First stake in a social business company – La Laiterie du Berger in Senegal – for an amount of 200 million CFA francs (€305,000).

2012 India: 1st 1-week study tour on index microinsurance with 23 participants from 4 continents and 12 countries representing various professional backgrounds: regulators, insurers, managers of microfinance institutions, private foundations, donors.

2013 Establishment of a first technical assistance program, "the African Facility," intended to help small microfinance institutions in Africa, in collaboration with the French Development Agency

2018 Launch of the “Solidarity Banker” program with Crédit Agricole SA, which offers technical assistance missions to Crédit Agricole Group employees on behalf of the Foundation’s partners.

2020 : At the initiative of the Foundation, an international coalition of 30 organizations was created to support microfinance institutions and their clients in the face of the economic crisis caused by Covid-19.

Partnership with the Lhoft Foundation

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The Foundation's new strategic directions, Ambitions 2025, aim, among other things, to develop new collaborations and synergies with fintech players. Spotlight on a new partnership signed between the Lhoft Foundation, a FinTech foundation in Luxembourg, and the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation dedicated to supporting innovation and the startup ecosystem in Africa.

Concretely:

1) The Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation supported the LHoFT Foundation by participating in the startup acceleration program, focused on financial inclusion in Africa, namely " Catapult: Inclusion Africa » which took place during the African Microfinance Week from October 16 to 20, 2023 in Lomé, Togo. 10 participants from African fintech participated in this 6e edition, the first conducted in French. The bootcamp lasted 5 days and was rich in mentoring sessions to refine strategy, improve operational efficiency, and amplify the social impact of the entrepreneurs' projects.

Philippe Guichandut, Director of Technical Assistance and Partnerships, and Khady Fall, Investment Officer for Africa, were among the mentors. They shared their expertise and knowledge on Monday, October 16, to help candidates develop their pitches and challenge them.

A pitch session took place on October 19, where each participant had 5 minutes to present their innovative solutions, followed by a 2-minute interactive question-and-answer session with a separate panel of judges.

Congratulations to the Cameroonian startup COVA AFRICA, which won the sixth edition of Catapult. Insurtech Cova Africa offers innovative digital solutions to market tailor-made insurance products in Cameroon and French-speaking Africa.

Catapult Program Closing Dinner

2) For its part, the LHoFT Foundation is committed to supporting the Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation in better understanding, integrating and connecting with innovative players in the Luxembourg financial ecosystem and facilitating new mutual collaborations to support innovations in Africa and achieve inclusion objectives.

Link to the Lhoft Foundation

 

 

Increased activity in Central Europe.

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In the second half of 2023, the Foundation strengthened its position in Central Europe with the granting of a new loan to a partner in Georgia.

In Georgia, the Foundation granted a new loan to Lazika in local currency equivalent to 1,030,000 euros. A partner since 2017, this microfinance institution seeks to "stimulate the legalization and institutionalization of entrepreneurship, particularly in rural areas, with a high concentration of informal income-generating activities and bridges that segment to SME standards"... It works mainly in rural areas and has 48% women among its 22,000 clients.

With this new loan, the Foundation strengthens its presence in Central Asia, which represents 18,% of the total outstanding amount monitored by the Foundation at the end of July 2023.

To learn more about our partners, Click here.

 

THE GRAMEEN CREDIT AGRICOLE FOUNDATION PARTICIPATES IN THE AFRICAN MICROFINANCE WEEK 2023

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SAM is an event biennial 5-day event dedicated to the development of financial inclusion in Africa. The 6th edition will take place in Lomé, Togo from October 16 to 20, 2023 at the International Conference Center (CIC) and the February 2 Hotel

 

The calendar

Several members of the Foundation will speak at conferences and workshops

On Monday, October 16, a 1er A workshop organized by the Foundation on BCAO regulations will take place, followed by a second workshop on analyzing the rise in security risks in the Sahel with Edouard Sers, Director of Risk, Compliance and Impact at the Foundation.

Véronique Faujour, General Delegate of the Foundation and Secretary General of Crédit Agricole SA, will speak on Wednesday, October 18, at the Closing Plenary Session – From Awareness to Action: Lessons from the SAM

Khady Fall will be present at the Investors' Forum at the Foundation's stand No. 10, on Thursday 19 and Friday 20 to meet our partners.

On Friday, October 19, a field visit is organized at the IMF Assilassimé Solidarité.

Goals

The SAM conference aims to provide a platform for exchange and sharing of ideas. The 2023 edition, entitled "Towards Inclusive and Sustainable Finance," will focus on the role that inclusive finance can play not only in reducing these risks and vulnerabilities, but also in supporting the transition to a green and climate-resilient economy.

The opportunity to meet its partners

On the occasion of SAM 2023, the Foundation will meet with its African partners, notably those involved in the technical assistance program in Sub-Saharan Africa, developed since 2019 in partnership with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Luxembourg Government. Meetings will be organized ahead of SAM 2023 and will allow all parties involved to take stock of this mechanism, which has helped strengthen around fifteen microfinance institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Foundation's priority intervention area.

 

Discover the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation's technical assistance programs here.

Increased activity in Sub-Saharan Africa

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In the first half of 2023, the Foundation strengthened its position in sub-Saharan Africa with the granting of two new loans to two partners in Mali and Uganda.

In Mali, the Foundation grants a new loan to Baobab Mali amounting to 2,000,000 Euros. This microfinance institution's mission is to "unlock the potential of its clients by offering them simple and easy-to-use financial services." It operates primarily in urban areas and has 41% women among its 18,643 clients.

In Uganda, the Foundation has granted a new loan to Vision Fund Uganda in local currency equivalent to 500,000 euros. A partner since 2017, this microfinance institution belongs to the Vision Fund group, the first partner to launch a specific program on the financial inclusion of refugees within the framework of financing from Swedish international cooperation (SIDA) and the UNHCR. To date, the institution serves 50,593 active borrowers (60 % women and 95 % in rural areas) and manages a portfolio of 7.5 million euros. This is the 4th loan granted by the Foundation.

With these two new loans, the Foundation is strengthening its presence in Sub-Saharan Africa, which represents 56,% of the total outstanding amount monitored by the Foundation at the end of July 2023.

To learn more about our partners, Click here.

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