Entrepreneur Financial Centre (EFC) Tunisia, a for-profit microfinance institution based in Tunis, recently arranged to receive advisory services from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, relating to strengthening the institution’s risk management and outreach. EFC Tunisia also recently opened a new branch in the coastal city of Sfax, bringing its total number of service locations to five.
The institution, which was founded in 2015 by Canada’s Développement international Desjardins (DiD), offers loan products tailored to two groups: (1) women entrepreneurs and (2) small and medium-sized enterprises. It employs 101 workers and serves 1,600 clients with outstanding loans totaling TND 12.6 million (USD 5.3 million) as of 2017.
DiD provides technical support and investment for the community finance sector in Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean. It also operates the Partnership Fund and the Desjardins Fund for Inclusive Finance, which provide loans and investment capital to microfinance institutions and microfinance funds. Together, DiD’s partner microfinance institutions reach approximately 10.9 million families and entrepreneurs as of 2015.
DiD is a component of the Desjardins Group, a financial cooperative offering banking, insurance, securities and investment services, with approximately CAD 258 billion (USD 213 billion) in assets as of 2016.
By Aleks Marceau, Research Associate
Sources and additional information:
DiD press release:
http://did.qc.ca/nouvelles/centre-financier-aux-entrepreneurs-tunisie-intensifie-181/
CFE Tunisie home page:
http://www.cfe.com.tn/
DiD home page:
http://www.did.qc.ca
Desjardins Group, 2016 Financials:
https://www.desjardins.com/ressources/pdf/d50-rapport-annuel-mcd-2016-t4-e.pdf?resVer=1489600718000
MicroCapital on KfW and DiD in Benin:
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-canadian-government-kfw-contract-developpement-international-desjardins-develop-capacity-benins-microfinance-industry/
Do you know that MicroCapital publishes the MicroCapital Monitor newspaper each month? Find out more at https://www.microcapital.org/products-page/.
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