MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation Lends $900k to ECLOF Kenya for Microfinance Lending

The Grameen Credit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg, has informed MicroCapital that it issued a loan in local currency approximately equivalent to USD 900,000 to ECLOF Kenya, a microfinance institution (MFI) providing “loans for micro enterprise and agriculture [as well as] health, water & sanitation, home improvement, green energy, education and for emergency situations.” The MFI, which was established in 1994, is headquartered in Nairobi and has 24 branches in the country. ECLOF Kenya is affiliated with the Ecumenical Church Loan Fund (ECLOF International), a Switzerland-based NGO that has 13 members in Africa, Asia and Latin America. ECLOF International provides these institutions with services such as technical support and facilitated access to funding partners. As of 2019, ECLOF Kenya has 56,000 clients, of whom 44 percent are youth, 56 percent are women and 60 percent are from rural areas. Group loans account for 98 percent of its USD 10.4 million outstanding loan portfolio. The institution does not accept deposits.

GCA Foundation was launched in 2008 by the directors of Credit Agricole, a French retail bank, and Muhammad Yunus, the founder of the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. The foundation provides funding and technical assistance to microfinance institutions and other social businesses with the aim of promoting financial inclusion and social entrepreneurship. As of May 2019, GCA Foundation has a portfolio of EUR 82.2 million (USD 92.4 million) supporting 78 partners in 36 countries in Africa and Eurasia. Its partners serve approximately 4.1 million customers, of whom 74 percent are women and 75 percent live in rural areas.

By Anuhya Tadepalli, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources

Direct contact with the Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation

ECLOF International homepage
https://www.eclof.org

ECLOF International profile on ECLOF Kenya
https://www.eclof.org/portfolio-item/kenya/

ECLOF International 2017 Annual Report
https://www.eclof.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/ECLOF-Annual-Report-2017-English.pdf

GCA Foundation homepage
http://gca-foundation.org/

GCA Foundation 2018 Annual Report
http://gca-foundation.org/news/The-Foundation-publishes-its-2018-Integrated-Annual-Report

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation Loans $2.4m in Kenya to Juhudi Kilimo, Musoni Kenya, ECLOF
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-grameen-credit-agricole-microfinance-foundation-loans-2-4m-in-kenya-to-juhudi-kilimo-musoni-kenya-eclof/

MIX Market profile on ECLOF-Kenya
https://www.themix.org/mixmarket/profiles/eclof-ken

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