The Foundation supports three new partners

© Didier Gentilhomme

During the first half of 2019, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation funded three new partners in Africa and Central Asia. With these three new partners, the Foundation had 81 supported organizations in 38 countries as of the end of August.

It thus granted an initial loan of an amount in FCFA equivalent to 1.5 million euros to Vital Finance in Benin, a microfinance institution founded in 1998 in Benin. Born from a microfinance project funded by USAID, Vital Finance has acquired solid experience in the field of microfinance and is today one of the largest institutions in the country. Vital Finance is mainly active in peri-urban areas and has 29,000 active clients, including 66% women.

The Foundation also provided a local currency loan equivalent to €1.5 million to the Entrepreneur Financial Centre Zambia (EFC) microfinance institution in Zambia. It is the country's largest regulated deposit-taking microfinance institution. The institution, established by CARE Zambia in 1996 as a microfinance project, aims to provide working capital solutions to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), with an emphasis on innovative, client-driven products. It currently has nearly 4,000 clients, including 441,000 women and 61,000 rural clients.

Finally, the Foundation also granted an initial loan of €890,000 to the microfinance institution Salym Finance in Kyrgyzstan. This institution, created in 2007 by four Kyrgyz entrepreneurs, aims to support the creation and development of income-generating activities and to provide access to financial services to populations excluded from the traditional banking system. Currently, the institution has nearly 12,500 active borrowers, including 53% women and 74% clients in rural areas, and manages a portfolio of €16.5 million.

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