70,3M€
Wallet
19 851
Number of beneficiaries
50,9%
Women beneficiaries
73,5%
Rural beneficiaries
Kyrgyzstan
Financial services
Funding granted
Loan of €870,000*
(local currency equivalent)
Foundation Partner
since 2019
*Outstanding at grant value
Context :
Agriculture remains a vital part of Kyrgyzstan's economy and a haven for industrial workers. It contributes over 381,000 tons of the country's GDP. The population below the poverty line is 251,000 tons.
The institution:
Salym Finance is a Tier 2 microfinance institution founded in 2007 by four Kyrgyz entrepreneurs. Its goal is to support and develop businesses and improve people's living standards by creating favorable financial conditions for economic development.
Impact :
Salym Finance primarily supports low-income individuals from rural areas or urban outskirts. It offers its clients a variety of products: housing loans, consumer loans, agricultural loans, and business loans.
Solidarity Banker missions to be filled in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and South Africa
Launched in June 2018 at the initiative of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole SA, Solidarity Bankers is a skills-based volunteer program open to all Crédit Agricole Group employees, supporting microfinance institutions and social impact businesses supported by the Foundation. Three new assignments are available in 2021 in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, and South Africa.
“Marketing Strategy” Mission in Georgia
Lazika Capital, one of the leading microfinance institutions in Georgia. Established in 2000, Lazika provides financial services to low-income individuals, smallholder farmers, and microentrepreneurs. The organization operates through 18 branches, primarily in rural areas of Georgia (70% of clients are rural).
The Solidarity Bankers mission aims to support Lazika in developing a marketing plan for mid-2021-2022. If the health situation permits, the mission will be carried out in June or July 2021 in Georgia; otherwise, it will be postponed.
“Social and environmental performance” mission in Kyrgyzstan
Salym is a microfinance institution that provides affordable loans and deposits to support income-generating activities for low-income populations in Kyrgyzstan. The organization currently has 23 branches across Kyrgyzstan and serves more than 18,000 clients, including 521 women and 701 rural clients.
A two-week Solidarity Bankers mission is planned to support Salym in managing its social and environmental performance. If the health situation permits, the mission will take place in September or October 2021 in Kyrgyzstan; otherwise, it can be carried out online.
“AML-CFT” mission in South Africa
SEF is a microfinance institution established in 1992 that provides financial and non-financial services to poor populations in South Africa. The institution has 225,317 active borrowers (1,00% women in rural areas).
A Solidarity Bankers mission is available to support SEF in framing and training its key employees on the risks associated with money laundering and terrorist financing. The field mission will take place in South Africa for two weeks, if Covid-19 health conditions permit.
Two online missions are still available
A first “digital / IT” mission is to be filled for the benefit of Smart Credit, a microfinance institution in Moldova. The Solidarity Banker will be responsible for helping to build Smart Crédit’s digital strategy. A second “financial management” mission is available for FATEN, a microfinance institution in Palestine. The Crédit Agricole expert will support FATEN in updating its financial procedures, policies, and tools. These missions will be carried out remotely, one day per week, for 15 weeks.
How to apply?
To discover the detailed mission offers:
- Go to the CA Solidaires website “Finding your mission“
- Enter “Grameen Foundation” in the search bar. All Solidarity Leave offers will appear!
- Click on the offer of your choice, you will find all the information necessary for your application.
More information: carolina.viguet@credit-agricole-sa.fr
Two Foundation partners obtain Smart Certification
© Philippe Lissac
In 2019, the Smart Campaign recognized the client protection efforts of several Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation partners by awarding them Smart Certification. The Smart Campaign is a global initiative that aims to integrate client protection principles into the financial inclusion sector. The Smart Campaign's Client Protection Certification program publicly recognizes institutions that provide financial services to low-income households and whose treatment standards meet the Smart Campaign's seven client protection principles. These principles cover important areas such as pricing, transparency, fair and respectful treatment, and the prevention of over-indebtedness.
The certification program includes a set of rigorous standards against which institutions are assessed by independent third-party assessors accredited by the Smart Campaign. The assessors are specialized rating agencies with extensive experience and have analyzed hundreds of institutions to date.
In 2019, in addition to the work of Chamroeun, a partner of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation since 2010, this initiative also publicly recognized the work of two other microfinance institutions, partners of the Foundation, in terms of client protection by granting them Certification: Musoni (Kenya) and Salym Finance (Kyrgyzstan). These institutions thus joined the nearly 120 other organizations specializing in financial inclusion, in more than 40 countries, certified since the launch of the program in January 2013.
For more information on the Foundation's partners, click here.
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.
For more informationinformation.