Solidarity Bankers Podcasts: Episode No. 1

Interview with Carolina VIGUET, Director of Communication & Partnerships, FGCA
Produced by: Mireille de Kerleau, Communications Manager, CACEIS

1. A few words about the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation?

The Foundation was founded in 2008 by Crédit Agricole and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, who founded the world's first microfinance bank in Bangladesh. Our mission is to combat poverty through financial inclusion and impact entrepreneurship.

Concretely, we will finance and support, with technical assistance missions, microfinance institutions and social enterprises that primarily serve women and rural populations in Africa, Asia and Europe.

2. What is the Solidarity Bankers program?

Solidarity Bankers is part of this technical assistance offering. It's a skills-based volunteering program launched by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole SA in 2018, open to all Crédit Agricole Group employees, entities, and regional banks, for the benefit of organizations funded by the Foundation.

These are two-week pro bono field missions or longer remote missions carried out by one or two Crédit Agricole employees to support an organization funded by the Foundation with a specific need. This may involve developing a business plan for a new project, establishing a marketing plan for the organization's next three years, or strengthening the financial plan of the beneficiary company.

3. Who can be a Solidarity Banker?

All employees of Crédit Agricole and Regional Banks entities in France and internationally. However, there is one essential condition: solid expertise in the subject of the assignment. We have all types of profiles; Directors and Senior profiles, as well as employees with two to three years of experience who are still experts in the subject of the assignment.

4. How does the device work?

I would say there are 4 steps:

STEP 1. DETERMINE THE MISSION AND SELECT THE SOLIDARITY BANKER

• We determine the mission following a specific request from the company we finance
• We are launching a call for applications for the mission on our website and also on the Crédit Agricole SA sponsorship platform, CA Solidaires
• We then launch a traditional recruitment process via interviews conducted by the Foundation team to select one or two Crédit Agricole employees (this depends on the complexity of the mission) for the mission.

STEP 2. CONTRACTUALIZATION AND PREPARATION OF THE MISSION

• An agreement must be signed by the Solidarity Banker's employer, the beneficiary organization and the Solidarity Banker
• For field missions, there is also preparation to be done before leaving on a mission: there are interviews, documents to read, so that the 2-week field mission is truly as effective as possible.

STEP 3. FIELD OR REMOTE MISSION

• There are many exchanges, progress reports, workshops, training sessions and also many meetings with the teams of the beneficiary company or microfinance institution as well as the end customers.

STEP 4. FINALIZE DELIVERABLES

• For example, the Solidarity Banker will finalize the HR plan that was requested or the business plan for the new product to be launched within 3 or 4 weeks after the mission.

5. Does the employee have to take leave to do a Solidarity Bankers mission?

Not necessarily. There are three possible options: either the mission is carried out as a volunteer (during the employee's vacation), or it is done through skills sponsorship (as part of the employment contract), or it is a mixed one, so part of the mission is carried out during vacation and another part as part of the employment contract. This is decided by the Solidarity Banker's employer; there is no obligation on the employer's side, but the reality is that all participating Crédit Agricole entities and Regional Banks have always donated days to sponsorship.

6. What is your assessment of the Solidarity Bankers program within the Foundation?

It's been three years. The program was launched in 2018. Three years after its launch, the program's success confirms the commitment of employees and the Group's desire to support projects with social impact. The program now includes around thirty missions launched in around fifteen countries for around twenty organizations supported by the Foundation. These represent more than 300 days of missions planned or carried out through skills-based volunteering by around thirty Solidarity Bankers.

In fact, a few positions are still available, launched in 2021, and around ten more will be launched this year. So, to all the potential Solidarity Bankers listening, visit our website or contact me, because some great, high-impact positions await you.

Listen to the podcast here