During the first half of 2019, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation made three new investments in Asia, including a guarantee in India in partnership with CA-CIB India.
In Cambodia, Phare Performing Social Enterprise (PPSE) was granted a loan equivalent to € 332,000. This partner, of which the Foundation holds 15.5% of equity since 2013, is a social company that creates, produces and organises performing arts shows and that hires young artists from underprivileged backgrounds.
In Myanmar, the Foundation also granted a new loan equivalent to € 1.8 million to Vision Fund Myanmar, a microfinance institution that lends small sums of money to people who do not have a measurable credit history, assets to secure the loans, or access to mainstream financial providers. To date, the institution has 183,000 active borrowers of whom over 85% are women and nearly 52% live in rural areas.
Finally, in India, the Foundation, in partnership with CA-CIB India, has established a loan guarantee scheme for a total amount in local currency equivalent to € 5.5 million on behalf of Fusion Microfinance Private Ltd, a microfinance institution founded in northern India in 1994. Fusion pays particular attention to issues of over-indebtedness and irresponsible lending, training its branch managers and relationship officers on the risks of multiple lending, so that its staff can be certain that prospective borrowers are aware of the risks and responsibilities that borrowing entails.