by Diana Yang - Key Players -

PRESS RELEASE: EBRD provides €3m loan to Inicjatywa Mikro

Source: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

Original press release here.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing the micro finance institution Inicjatywa Mikro SP Z.O.O with a Euro 3 million-equivalent loan in z?oty to support the development of micro and small enterprises in Poland. The loan is supported by technical assistance funded by the European Commission.

Inicjatywa Mikro performs an important role in the micro enterprise sector in southern Poland, a region still suffering from the decline of the large state-owned mining and steel sector. For many former employees in these industries, starting up their own business is the only way forward, but access to finance has become even more difficult in the current global financial crisis.

A recent EU-sponsored study has found out that there remains a large demand for micro finance in Poland with only 3 percent of registered micro and small enterprises financed by the formal financial sector. Inicjatywa Mikro is focussing on this vital sector of the economy to help bridge this gap.

Lucyna Stanczak, EBRD Country Director for Poland, said. “The loan to Inicjatywa Mikro will lead to increased availability of finance to a crucial sector of the economy. The difficult market environment makes this more important and timely than ever. We are confident that the loans will help Poland’s entrepreneurial spirit blossom.”

Ian Townsend, CEO of Inicjatywa Mikro, added, “This loan will enable us to reach out to the micro finance sector from our seven offices in the south of Poland. The funds will ensure that finance is available to assist small businesses develop especially in the current financial climate. All of us at Inicjatywa Mikro are pleased to be working with the EBRD and the EU to develop the economy of cities, towns and rural areas in which we operate.”

Inicjatywa Mikro is member of Opportunity International, a network of micro finance institutions active in the EBRD region in Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia and Serbia. Operations in Poland started in 1996.

The financing comes under the EU/EBRD Preparatory Action Framework which supports micro and small enterprises in the new EU member states and aims to provide medium and long-term financing from the EBRD combined with technical assistance funded by the European Commission.

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