Le Levier, a federation of cooperatives in Haiti, and Développement international Desjardins (DiD), a unit of Canadian cooperative Desjardins Group, recently inaugurated an Entrepreneur Financial Centre (EFC) owned by six cooperatives in Haiti. Based in the city of Cap-Haitien, the EFC will focus on serving the 400 entrepreneur members of the cooperatives that own it. François Hamel, the interim director of Grand Nord EFC said, “The EFC is intended to support coop members operating micro- and small businesses by providing them with high-quality specialized financial services, while supporting their development and job creation in their community.”
The creation of the EFC is part of the National Support for Haitian Entrepreneurship program (PANSEH), which DiD is implementing with funding from the Canadian government. PANSEH also is working to support micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises by promoting human resources improvements in financial cooperatives and supporting the Haitian government in incentivizing and otherwise promoting entrepreneurship.
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 owns or supports EFCs in Haiti, Panama, Sri Lanka and four African countries. 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 2016.
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.
Le Levier works with 42 cooperatives serving 500,000 members.
Sources and Additional Resources
DiD press release
http://www.did.qc.ca/en/news/did-and-the-levier-federation-financial-193/
Le Levier
http://www.lelevier.ht/
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
Do you know that MicroCapital publishes the MicroCapital Monitor newspaper each month? Find out more at https://www.microcapital.org/products-page/.
Similar Posts:
- MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Maquita Cushunchic Borrowing $2m from DID Aequitas Fund for Microfinance, Small-enterprise Lending in Ecuador
- MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Desjardins Lending $1m from Aequitas Impact Fund to ADIGUA to Expand Microfinance Loans in Guatemala
- MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Aequitas Impact Fund Loans $1.7m to Sipem Banque to Boost Microfinance in Madagascar
- MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Institution 4 de Octubre Borrows $1.5m from Aequitas Fund for Onlending in Ecuador
- MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Pro Mujer Borrows $2m from Aequitas Impact Fund to Uplift Women-owned Businesses in Nicaragua
