Laiterie de Berger, a dairy products producer in Senegal, has received a loan of EUR 229,000 (USD 260,000) in the form of a shareholder’s current account from the Grameen Credit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg. Laiterie de Berger purchases milk from herders in northern Senegal, as well as facilitating their access to cattle, feed and credit. It sells dairy products – primarily yogurt – under the brand name Dolima.
The social business has purchased from approximately 800 farm families and employs 200 people as of 2018. Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation has been a shareholder in Laiterie du Berger since 2010 and holds a 11.5-percent stake in the business.
GCA Foundation was launched in 2008 by the directors of Credit Agricole, a French retail bank, and 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 promoting financial inclusion and social entrepreneurship. As of May 2019, GCA Foundation has a portfolio of EUR 82.2 million (USD 92.4 million) supporting 78 partners in 36 countries in Africa and Eurasia. Its partners serve approximately 4.1 million customers, of whom 74 percent are women and 75 percent live in rural areas.
By Anuhya Tadepalli, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
Direct contact with the Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation
La Laiterie du Berger homepage
https://lalaiterieduberger.wordpress.com/
Just Food article French finance companies to support Senegalese dairy firm La Laiterie du Berger
https://www.just-food.com/news/french-finance-companies-to-support-senegalese-dairy-firm-la-laiterie-du-berger_id138556.aspx
Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation article: Laiterie du Berger: a promising experiment
http://gca-foundation.org/news/laiterie-du-berger-a-promising-experiment
Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation homepage
http://gca-foundation.org/
Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation 2018 Annual Report
http://gca-foundation.org/news/The-Foundation-publishes-its-2018-Integrated-Annual-Report
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