MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation Lends $3.4m to Chamroeun for Microfinance in Cambodia

The Grameen Credit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg, recently announced it has disbursed a loan of USD 3.4 million to Chamroeun, a Cambodia-based microfinance institution (MFI). Chamroeun offers loans for entrepreneurship, farming, motorcycles, home improvement and consumption. In addition, it delivers programs promoting financial literacy as well as health and wellbeing in an effort to meet the needs of “the poorest, [who are] excluded from the offer of more commercial microfinance institutions.”

Chamroeun was launched in 2006 as a nonprofit by the French NGO Entrepreneurs du Monde. The MFI later transformed into a for-profit institution and in 2018 was purchased by a unit of ReNet Japan Group. Established in 1998 as Book Off Wave Co, ReNet aims to help develop financially viable, socially responsible businesses. With 21 branches and a gross loan portfolio of EUR 29 million (USD 29 million), Chamroeun serves 46,000 clients – the majority of whom are women living in rural areas.

GCA Foundation was established in 2008 by Credit Agricole SA, a French retail bank, in partnership with Muhammad Yunus, the founder of the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. The foundation provides funding and technical assistance to microfinance institutions and other social businesses with the aim of creating a “better-shared economy.” As of 2022, the foundation manages assets valued at EUR 89 million (USD 89 million) outstanding to 75 partners in 36 countries in Africa and Eurasia.

By Ben Greissman, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources

Direct contact with GCA Foundation

GCA Foundation press release
https://www.gca-foundation.org/en/media-room/#the-foundation-grants-three-new-financings-in-south-and-south-east-asia

Chamroeun homepage
https://www.chamroeun.com

Chamroeun annual report
https://www.chamroeun.com/page/annual-report

ReNet corporate homepage
https://corp.renet.jp

GCA Foundation homepage
https://www.gca-foundation.org

GCA Foundation 2021 annual report
https://www.gca-foundation.org/media-room/#the-foundation-publishes-its-2021-integrated-report

Previous MicroCapital article on Chamroeun and GCA
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-grameen-credit-agricole-foundation-loans-3-7m-to-proximity-chamroeun-for-microfinance-in-myanmar-cambodia/

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