Micro-finance

APEM PAIQ is a microfinance institution for small urban entrepreneurs, mainly located in Antananarivo and the surrounding area. It offers loans, with an average amount of MGA 1.2 million (EUR 300), as well as complementary non-financial services such as health insurance and training.

With Miarakap's funding and support, APEM PAIQ aims to triple its level of activity between 2019 and 2023 by opening a dozen additional offices in Antananarivo and adjacent municipalities.

THE ENTREPRENEUR

The Projet d'Appui aux Initiatives de Quartier (PAIQ - Neighbourhood Initiatives Support Project) is a project initiated by the French Cooperation in 1998. The project was carried out in Antananarivo by the Association pour la Promotion de l'Entreprise à Madagascar (APEM - Association for Entreprise Promotion in Madagascar) as a project manager. At the end of the French Cooperation funding, the APEM continued the project by financing it from its own funds and transforming it into a public limited company in 2010.

The institution is now directed by Rihatiana Rasonarivo, a 40-year-old Malagasy woman. The Executive Director of APEM PAIQ is a graduate of INSCAE in Accounting and Control and holds a Master's degree in Management from the University of Antananarivo. She held positions as internal controller and then administrative and financial manager before joining APEM PAIQ in 2011.

PARTNERSHIP WITH MIARAKAP

Miarakap has committed to APEM PAIQ to:

• Enable the opening of new neighbourhood offices and their computerization

• Strengthen corporate governance by actively participating in strategic decisions

• Strengthen the capacities of managerial and operational staff through technical assistance missions

MAIN IMPACTS

The development plan includes:

• More than 50 formal jobs created or maintained

• Access to financial services for more than 5,000 small urban entrepreneurs in Antananarivo by 2023

• The training of more than 100 entrepreneurs per year

• The development of a social performance policy

ACEP Niger is a microfinance institution targetting small and very small businesses in urban areas.

ACEP relays on two agencies and several service points in the two main cities in Niger, Niamey and Maradi.

The operator

ACEP Group is a French microfinance operator founded by Nicolas Rofe and Thierry Perreau.

ACEP institutions, also present in Cameroon, Madagascar and Burkina Faso, share a set of common values and a rigorous methodology.

Oxus DRC is a Greenfield microfinance institution initiated by ACTED and financed by OXUS Holding, Proparco and I&P. The IMF started its activities in September 2012 after having received the approval of the Central Bank of Congo in May 2012. 

OXUS DR Congo was launched in the province of Kinshasa and has now three branches: two in the capital city and one in Kikwit. OXUS DRC counts on extending quickly towards zones underserved in range of financial services. By 2018, Oxus DRC plans to have set up a network of about fifteen branches distributed on various regions of the country. It will provide to its clients a diversified range of credit products aiming at the small groups of merchants and the small and medium-sized individual companies. In the short term, Oxus DRC will also propose a range of products from savings to international money transfer.

The Oxus Group was created by ACTED in 2005 with the aim to fight poverty through the provision of microfinance services to the working poor. The group is committed to protecting and improving the lives of its clients while achieving solid financial results. Oxus MFIs offer adapted and socially oriented financial services to populations who are often excluded from the traditional banking system. Settled in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kirghizstan and DRC, Oxus has disbursed nearly 187,000 loans amounting to US$ 183 million.

PARTNERSHIP WITH I&P

• I&P chairs OXUS’ Audit Committee and Social Performance Committee

• Technical assistance support, notably regarding the management of their social performance

KEY IMPACTS

• Access granted for the poorest to financial services

• Fight against poverty

Acep Cameroun is a microfinance institution specialized in financing SMEs from urban areas of Douala, Yaounde and Bafoussam. Acep is now a 5 in-country MFI network.

PARTNERSHIP WITH I&P

I&P is committed alongside ACEP CAMEROON:

• To organize the transformation process of ACEP Cameroon to a private financial institution

• To contribute to the business plan elaboration and the round table constitution.

• To assure a regular operational monitoring

• To actively participate to the governance proceedings (audit comity and board of directors)

KEY IMPACTS

• Number of created jobs: 166

• Since 2005, ACEP has allowed more than 45 000 credits distributed to very small entrepreneurs (street food vendors, shoemakers, bayamselams) 

• Incomes annual growth in average since 2007: +32%

Fides Senegal Microfinance is a young microfinance institution that aims to provide financial services to urban and rural population located in northern Senegal: solidarity and individual loans, savings, insurance and mobile banking.

Headquartered in St. Louis, it opened offices in Luga and Touba, and will settle one new agency every year in the North of the country, where the offer is lower than in Dakar. It enjoys the support of FIDES consultants in the establishment of microfinance business (corporations) in the rural world.

PARTNERSHIP WITH I&P

I&P committed alongside with Fides Microfinance Sénégal:

• Being the first investor to confirm its commitment to FMS, to pilot the project building

• To participate in strategic discussions with the management team (Governance, etc.). 

KEY IMPACTS

• Access to financial services in rural and peri-urban areas: more than 21,000 borrowers (including 85% women) and 37 500 savers

• 154 jobs maintained in 2015, including more than 60% women

• 35 local suppliers 

• Demonstration of microfinance viability in the private sector in West Africa, where NGOs and cooperatives are privileged actors

ACEP Burkina is a MFI specialized in the financing of micro companies and very small enterprises existing in towns and close suburbs. Granted credits are mainly used to finance required working capital and investments.

I&P and ACEP International which are old partners have decided to partner in 2008 to try to start a microfinance institution like ACEP in the country. In spite of a preexisting  important mutual fund present in town zone, small entrepreneurs remain hardly linked to microfinance. Besides, it does not exist for the moment in Burkina Faso, a microfinance institution specialized in individual credit with an effective and appropriate technique of credit risk analysis towards very small companies. 

Financings trough subventions have been secured from the French Agency of Development then an agreement has been obtained from the ministry of finances in June 2012. The microfinance institution has started its activities in October 2012. 

PARTNERSHIP WTH I&P

I&P is committed alongside ACEP Burkina to:

• Write the business plan and constitute the round table

• Support ACEP in the research of external funding to extend its portfolio

• Contribute to reinforce the skills of the management team through a technical assistance program

KEY IMPACTS

• ACEP Burkina will bring an offer adapted to the financing of town small entrepreneurs

• Set up a health coverage and a CSR policy, as well as a road safety plan

Finance Trust Bank (FTB), one of the oldest MFIs in Uganda, started its operations in 1984. The company is licensed and regulated by Bank of Uganda as a Micro Deposit Taking Institution (MDI) and is recognized as a key player and part of Uganda’s formal financial sector.  FTB has 36 interconnected branches positioned all over the country and serves over 140,000 customers with a variety of savings and loan solutions including business loans, salary loans, school fees loans, savings accounts, fixed deposits and a money transfer service through Western Union Money Transfer.

Its mission is to provide valued relevant financial services to low and medium income people, especially women, for poverty reduction with a focus on excellent customer service and accessibility.

THE ENTREPRENEUR

Anne Nakawunde is the Managing Director of Finance Trust Bank. Anne is a banker by profession with over 10 years’ practical experience in Banking and Microfinance. Previously she has worked in various capacities, at Finance Trust Bank as Head of Operations and Operations & Compliance Manager. Prior to Finance Trust Bank, Annet held various key positions at Pride Microfinance and Nile Bank Ltd.

holds a Master of Business Administration from Makere University, Kampala, with a major in finance. The Women’s World Banking network in New York recognized her as the "Financial Woman of the Year" in 2008.

PARTNERSHIP WITH I&P

I&P comitted alongside with FTB

• To bring strategic support

• To lead the operational comittee at the Board of Directors

KEY IMPACTS

• Access to credit and saving services for a large part of the population

• 173 743 individuals capitalize their savings at UFT

• 22 700 borrowers had their businesses funded in 2012

ACEP Madagascar is a financial institution for micro companies financing and SMEs. ACEP Madagascar was created in 2009 and positions as a major actor in microfinance industry in Madagascar. Its aim is to bring financial services (credit, saving, insurance) to populations traditionally excluded from the financial circuit because of their non-solvability.

ACEP Madagascar is one of Madagascar’s oldest MFIs. Thanks to its network of 6 regional branches and 42 agencies, it makes its financial products available to a wide range of customers.

PARTNERSHIP WITH I&P

I&P is committed alongside ACEP Madagascar to:

• The standardization of management tools in the domain of computing, new technologies, and use of plastic money. 

• To think about environmental responsibility and social performance.

IMPACTS

• More than 350 jobs created

• Incomes have known a growth of +24% from 2010 to 2011

• Since its creation in 2009, ACEP has allowed credits to more than 19500 urban and suburb entrepreneurs 

FIDES BANK Namibia is a microfinance institution (MFI) in Namibia which has started its operations in early 2010. It is the only true MFI in the country.

The bank has taken over the activities of a microfinance program developed on a small scale since 2005. FIDES, as a microfinance operator, has specific expertise in the startup and management of private microfinance institution involved in rural areas.

I&P is one of the founding shareholders of FIDES BANK Namibia, which has chosen to operate with a commercial bank status, becoming the fifth largest bank. Namibia displays a particularly harsh context to develop microfinance activities, especially in rural areas, due to the very low population density and high costs associated with the deployment of services. The bank started its activities in the Northern region of Namibia where population is moderately low which was completely unserved by financial and banking institutions.  

I&P Partnership

• Promoting the acquisition of a bank status: FIDES Bank Namibia has become the title for the country's fifth largest bank

• Actively participating in governance, including the audit committee of the institution

Impacts

• Enlarge the population who gets access to banking to the very low income individuals through a range of formal financial services (savings, secured credit, individual credit)

• 20.000 customers in 2012

• 50 high-qualified formal jobs created in an area harshly suffering from unemployement

Afrique Emergence & Investissements (AE&I) is an MFI focusing on microloan distribution and savings addressed to revenue-making activities. Its misson is to fight against poverty in Africa and to improve its clients’ life standards. In order to achieve these goals, AEI seeks for resources likely to build strong linkage between lenders (institutions and individuals) and borrowers (micro-entrepreneurs.). The MFI grants an access to financial market resources as well as profitability and repayment of disbursed loans.

THE ENTREPRENEUR

Fahan Bamba founded AEI after spending 10 years at CITIBANK, 1st world banking network and 4 as an Audit Supervisor at KPMG. When he left Citibank in 2003 to build AEI, Ivory Coast was involved in a deep political and military crisis, an unprecedented context of increasing poverty and socio-economic instability. Fahan Bamba was received the Entrepreneurship and Management award from PME Magazine (first Ivorian economics magazine).

Partnership with I&P

I&P is committed alongside with Afrique Emergence & Investissements

• To bring capital

• To chair at the Board committee and contribute to strategic thinking

Impacts

• Improving access to financial services for the poorest people

• 55 jobs maintained in 2015 (increase by 40% since 2014). Over a third are women

• 5 local suppliers 

• 2 284 borrowers (including more than 60% women) and 4 219 savers