The Grameen Crédit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg, has agreed to lend EUR 3 million (USD 3.5 million) over three years to Pahal Financial Services, a microfinance institution based in Ahmedabad, India. Caroline Brandt, senior investment manager at GCA Foundation, stated that the partnership will
Search Results for: "Grameen Credit Agricole"
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation Approves 3-year Loan of $1.4m to Microfinance Institution Mikra of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Grameen Credit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg, has agreed to issue a three-year loan of EUR 1.2 million (USD 1.4 million) to Mikra, a microfinance institution in Bosnia and Herzegovina that seeks to “provide financial services to the poorest but economically active populations.” Of the microlender’s 15,000 clients, about 10,200 are female and 8,700 live in rural areas. Mikra’s group and individual loans range in size from
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation Lends $1.8m to Entrepreneur Financial Center (EFC) in Zambia
The Grameen Crédit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg, has granted its first loan to Entrepreneur Financial Center (EFC), a microfinance institution (MFI) located in Zambia. The three-year loan is in local currency equivalent to approximately USD 1.8 million. EFC Zambia serves micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and has eight branches. The MFI holds 20,000 savings and term deposit accounts and as of February 2021 has disbursed 51,000 MSME loans totaling ZMW 155 million (USD 7.2 million). It has 3,000 borrowers, nearly half of whom are women or organizations owned by women. In addition to business loans, the MFI offers
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation Lends $2.4m to Microinvest of Moldova for Microfinance, Mostly in Rural Areas
The Grameen Credit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg, recently loaned approximately MDL 39 million (USD 2.4 million) to Microinvest, a microlender in Moldova. Microinvest offers collateral and collateral-free loans for business, agriculture, housing, vehicles and consumption. These loans range in size from MDL 2,000 (USD 120) to MDL 4 million (USD 240,000), with terms of 3 months to 7 years. Microinvest has a portfolio of MDL 1.9 billion (USD 114 million) outstanding to 35,000 clients as of 2020. About two thirds of these customers live in rural areas, and the male-female ratio is even.
Microinvest is majority held by Balkan Financial Sector Equity Fund. The Romania-based Banca Transilvania Financial Group was seeking
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: CAURIE Microfinance of Senegal Borrows $1.4m from Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation, Mostly for Rural Women
Coopérative Autonome pour le Renforcement des Initiatives Économiques par la Micro finance (CAURIE-MF), a microfinance institution in Senegal, recently borrowed the approximate equivalent of USD 1.4 million from the Grameen Credit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg. Based in the city of Thies, CAURIE-MF serves about 80,000 women, including 48,000
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: ADA, Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation Respond to COVID-19 with Information Sharing, Funding, Partnerships
Luxembourg-based NGOs ADA (Appui au Développement Autonome) and the Grameen Crédit Agricole (GCA) Foundation have launched a range of resources in response to the COVID-19 pandemic including the following:
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Zola, EDF Harness Securitization to Expand Solar Energy in Côte d’Ivoire with Support from Credit Agricole CIB, Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation, Societe Generale, AfDB
Credit Agricole CIB (Corporate and Investment Bank), a member of the France-based Credit Agricole Group; the Luxembourg-based Grameen Credit Agricole (GCA) Foundation; and French investment firm NEoT Off-Grid Africa recently launched a securitization vehicle to enable Zola EDF Côte d’Ivoire to increase its sales of solar power systems to households that are not connected to traditional power grids. Zola EDF Côte d’Ivoire, which uses a
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company Invests $19m in Microfinance for Women via Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation
The Japan-based Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company recently invested JPY 2 billion (USD 18.6 million) in a “Microfinance and Gender Loan” scheme, which was arranged by Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (CIB), a member of the France-based Crédit Agricole Group. The funding will allow the Grameen Crédit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg, “to support microfinance institutions focusing [on]
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation Loans $1.65m to Kreditimi Rural i Kosoves (KRK) for Microfinance in Kosovo
Kreditimi Rural i Kosoves (KRK), a microlender in Kosovo, recently borrowed EUR 1.5 million (USD 1.65 million)
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Providers Report Wide Range of COVID-19 Effects via Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation Survey
From March 11 to March 19, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg, collected observations from 56 microfinance institutions (MFIs) regarding the effects of COVID-19. Markets are closed, putting traders out of work; and group borrowers’ meetings are canceled. While these are replaced in some instances with door-to-door transactions, other MFIs are reducing in-person transactions to minimize virus transmission. Remittance inflows are down. Tourism enterprises are being asked to return deposits for canceled
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation Guaranteeing $3.3m Loan to Tasaheel for Microfinance in Egypt
Crédit Agricole Egypt (CA Egypt), a unit of France’s Crédit Agricole Group, recently partnered with the Grameen Crédit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is Luxembourg, to provide funding to Tasaheel for Microfinance Foundation, a microfinance institution in Egypt, “in the form of
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation Loans $3.8m to Proximity, Chamroeun for Microfinance in Myanmar, Cambodia
The Grameen Credit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg, recently issued the following loans: (1) MMK 3 billion (USD 2 million) to Proximity Designs, a US-registered NGO that operates exclusively in Myanmar; and (2) USD 1.8 million to Chamroeun of Cambodia to help
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation Loans $1.7m to EFC Zambia, Provider of Housing, Microenterprise Loans
The Grameen Credit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg, has loaned local currency approximately equivalent to USD 1.7 million to Entrepreneur Financial Centre (EFC) Zambia, a microfinance institution offering loans and savings services, mainly in urban areas. Founded in 1996, the microbank offers loans for working capital, invoice
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Agora Microfinance Zambia (AMZ) Borrows $324k from Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation
Agora Microfinance Zambia (AMZ) recently borrowed the local-currency equivalent of USD 324,000 from the Luxembourg-based Grameen Credit Agricole (GCA) Foundation. The loan has a term of three years. During 2018, the microfinance institution (MFI) began offering
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation Loans $1.5m to ACEP Niger, VisionFund Rwanda, LAPO of Sierra Leone
The Luxembourg-based Grameen Credit Agricole (GCA) Foundation has issued local-currency loans to three microfinance institutions (MFIs), approximately equivalent to the following amounts: USD 550,000 to ACEP Niger, an affiliate of the Agency for Private Enterprise Credit (ACEP) International; USD 540,000 to
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation Lends $770k to Microfinance Institution Oxus Kyrgyzstan
The Grameen Credit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg, has issued a loan in the local currency equivalent of USD 770,000 to Oxus Kyrgyzstan, a member of the France-based Oxus Group. Oxus Kyrgyzstan
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation Lends $970k to Microfinance Institution Salym Finance of Kyrgyzstan
The Grameen Credit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg, has issued a loan in local currency approximately equivalent to USD 970,000 to Salym Finance, a microfinance institution in Kyrgyzstan. Founded in 2007 with the brand name Credit Systems,
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation Loans $2.4m to Vision Fund Myanmar, Phare Performing Social Enterprise of Cambodia
The Luxembourg-based Grameen Crédit Agricole (GCA) Foundation recently issued loans of EUR 1.8 million (USD 2.0 million) to VisionFund Myanmar, a member of VisionFund International, and the equivalent of USD 367,000 to