The Canadian NGO Desjardins International Development (DID) recently disbursed USD 1.5 million from its financial inclusion fund Aequitas to 4 de Octubre, a microfinance institution (MFI) in Ecuador, to support the MFI’s lending services. Founded in 1996 and headquartered in the city of Riobamba, 4 de Octubre is a cooperative offering savings, credit and payment cards. The organization has approximately 12,500 savers and 6,700 borrowers, of whom 46 percent are female. As of December 2022, 4 de Octubre reports total assets of USD 56 million, a loan portfolio of USD 46 million and customer deposits of USD 31 million.
Founded in 1970, DID is a unit of the Canadian cooperative Desjardins Group that seeks “to promote the economic empowerment of disadvantaged communities around the world by facilitating access to secure, diversified financial services.” It specializes in providing technical support and investment for the inclusive finance sector. The NGO is active in 30 nations across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and it manages the Aequitas fund, which was launched in 2021 with an investment of CAD 50 million (USD 37 million) from the Desjardins Group.
The Desjardins Group serves 7.5 million people with services such as retail banking, wealth management, securities brokerage, venture capital and asset management.
By Renata Samadova, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
Direct contact with DID
4 de Octubre homepage
https://www.4deoctubre.net
Previous MicroCapital article on DID
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-did-loaning-2m-from-aequitas-fund-to-faces-microfinanzas-for-microfinance-in-ecuador/
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