MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation invests the local currency equivalent of $650,000 in Moldova’s Smart Credit
The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation (GCA), a Luxembourg-based funder that promotes “financial inclusion and social impact entrepreneurship”, has granted in local currency the equivalent of approximately USD 650,000 to Smart Credit, a Moldovan microfinance institution. Founded in 2010, Smart Credit offers insurance products covering health, vehicles and business needs as well as loans for needs such as housing, business investment and consumption. As of February 2022, the company operates 10 sites, serving 3,300 people, approximately half of whom are women and 2,250 live in rural areas. Among the microlender’s investors is the Helenos fund of the Belgian Inpulse Investment Manager SC. Smart Credit’s loan portfolio stands at 5.8 million euros ($6.6 million)
Crédit Agricole, a French retail bank, in partnership with Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank, created the GCA Foundation in 2008. The organization seeks to reduce poverty by providing financing and technical assistance to institutions of microfinance and other social enterprises. As of December 2021, the GCA Foundation has a portfolio of 78 million euros ($88 million) in circulation with 81 partners in 37 countries in Africa and Eurasia. About 81% of its issuing companies’ clients live in rural areas and 90% are women.
By Adhya Singh, Research Associate
Sources and additional resources
GCA Foundation press release
https://www.gca-foundation.org/en/media-room/#the-latest-funding-of-the-foundation-in-europe-and-central-asia
Smart Credit Home Page
https://smartcredit.md
Inpulse home page
https://www.inpulse.coop/
GCA Foundation Home Page
https://www.gca-foundation.org/
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