ALPs Partners
Cameroon
MIFED (Microfinance et Developpement), was established as a Non Profit Organization in 1998, that specializes in microfinance and local economic development. MIFED has promoted greenfield institutions in rural and urban areas in various parts of Cameroon, has built the capacities of 30 regulated MFIs of all legal forms and has assisted them in product and service development, including non financial services. MIFED has three type of expertise: implementation agency (operator), studies and research and training & resource centre. It has managed projects and programs for major stakeholders and donors such as Government of Cameroon, Central Bank for Central African Countries, AFD, WB, AfDB, EU, GIZ, SNV and Care. MIFED is member of the AIDR network.
MIFED has established two networks of Caisses Villagoise d’Epargne et Credit Autogere (CVECAs or self-managed rural savings and credit cooperatives), one UCCGN in the Grand Northern region and the other A3C in the Central and Littoral regions. The two together have over 140 CEVCASs with over 80,000 members. In addition, MIFED has established a network of women’s informal savings and credit associations called Credit Solidarite de Grande Nord (CSGN). More recently, it has worked to provide technical assistance to CEC (Caisse d’Epargne et de Credit du Cameroun), a cooperative savings and credit association around Douala with nearly 20,000 members and 4 billion CFA of savings.
The founder of MIFED, Mr Simon Yon Tjega was educated in Cameroon and France and worked in France and later Cameroon as a banker, before starting work with rural poor in his country. He is a well-known member of the civil society in Cameroon and MIFED is a member of PAMIGA.
MIFED (Microfinance et Developpement), was established as a Non Profit Organization in 1998, that specializes in microfinance and local economic development. MIFED has promoted greenfield institutions in rural and urban areas in various parts of Cameroon, has built the capacities of 30 regulated MFIs of all legal forms and has assisted them in product and service development, including non financial services. MIFED has three type of expertise: implementation agency (operator), studies and research and training & resource centre. It has managed projects and programs for major stakeholders and donors such as Government of Cameroon, Central Bank for Central African Countries, AFD, WB, AfDB, EU, GIZ, SNV and Care. MIFED is member of the AIDR network.
MIFED has established two networks of Caisses Villagoise d’Epargne et Credit Autogere (CVECAs or self-managed rural savings and credit cooperatives), one UCCGN in the Grand Northern region and the other A3C in the Central and Littoral regions. The two together have over 140 CEVCASs with over 80,000 members. In addition, MIFED has established a network of women’s informal savings and credit associations called Credit Solidarite de Grande Nord (CSGN). More recently, it has worked to provide technical assistance to CEC (Caisse d’Epargne et de Credit du Cameroun), a cooperative savings and credit association around Douala with nearly 20,000 members and 4 billion CFA of savings.
The founder of MIFED, Mr Simon Yon Tjega was educated in Cameroon and France and worked in France and later Cameroon as a banker, before starting work with rural poor in his country. He is a well-known member of the civil society in Cameroon and MIFED is a member of PAMIGA.
Mozambique
GAPI (Small Scale Investment Support Office) Mozambique has been in existence for 25 years. It started with capital of USD 70,000 and has grown exponentially. The 2010 audited balance sheet puts GAPI's total assets at more than 30 million USD and it was profitable.
GAPI was established by the German foundation, FES which had stayed with its commitment to the strategy to convert GAPI into a development-oriented financial company, 100 per cent Mozambican owned, but as a "public-private partnership". As a result, only 30 per cent of its shares are held by the Mozambican government, while 40 per cent by the private investment vehicle Gapi-Gest, set up by GAPI staff, 15 per cent each by two major Mozambican NGOs, the Community Development Foundation (FDC) and the Mozambican Red Cross (CVM).
As a development-oriented financial company, a change in GAPI's status approved by the Bank of Mozambique, the institution operates to catalyse the creation of a range of community-based and micro-finance bodies in the Mozambican countryside and then to develop a network of such institutions. GAPI also works closely with bodies like UNAC, the National Famers’ Union and IKURU, a farmer owned company.
While GAPI chose not become a bank itself, it is one of four partners setting up the country's first "bank with a rural focus". The Banco Terra (Land Bank) began operations in early 2008. The shareholders are the Dutch Rabobank, with 30.7 per cent, GAPI (29.3 per cent), KfW of Germany (20 per cent), and Norfund of Norway (20 per cent).
GAPI’s Founder CEO Mr Antonio Suoto disagrees with the conventional wisdom that all that the farmers in the countryside needed was an increased injection of financial services. That was just looking at the supply side, while Souto believed that "the real problem lies in demand". This could be tackled, he believes, “by working on human capital and institutional development, in order to improve business capacity and bankability in the countryside".
GAPI (Small Scale Investment Support Office) Mozambique has been in existence for 25 years. It started with capital of USD 70,000 and has grown exponentially. The 2010 audited balance sheet puts GAPI's total assets at more than 30 million USD and it was profitable.
GAPI was established by the German foundation, FES which had stayed with its commitment to the strategy to convert GAPI into a development-oriented financial company, 100 per cent Mozambican owned, but as a "public-private partnership". As a result, only 30 per cent of its shares are held by the Mozambican government, while 40 per cent by the private investment vehicle Gapi-Gest, set up by GAPI staff, 15 per cent each by two major Mozambican NGOs, the Community Development Foundation (FDC) and the Mozambican Red Cross (CVM).
As a development-oriented financial company, a change in GAPI's status approved by the Bank of Mozambique, the institution operates to catalyse the creation of a range of community-based and micro-finance bodies in the Mozambican countryside and then to develop a network of such institutions. GAPI also works closely with bodies like UNAC, the National Famers’ Union and IKURU, a farmer owned company.
While GAPI chose not become a bank itself, it is one of four partners setting up the country's first "bank with a rural focus". The Banco Terra (Land Bank) began operations in early 2008. The shareholders are the Dutch Rabobank, with 30.7 per cent, GAPI (29.3 per cent), KfW of Germany (20 per cent), and Norfund of Norway (20 per cent).
GAPI’s Founder CEO Mr Antonio Suoto disagrees with the conventional wisdom that all that the farmers in the countryside needed was an increased injection of financial services. That was just looking at the supply side, while Souto believed that "the real problem lies in demand". This could be tackled, he believes, “by working on human capital and institutional development, in order to improve business capacity and bankability in the countryside".
Tanzania
PRIDE Rural Finance Window Ltd was established in 2004 as a specialised rural division of PRIDE Tanzania, which mainly works in urban areas. It has 14 branches and mainly provides loans to farmers for crop cultivation as well as livestock rearing. It also finances some of the actors in various value chains and has recently started financing the use of renewable energy products.
The MD of PRIDE RFW Ltd is Mr James Obama, a veteran of financial services for the poor in Tanzania
PRIDE Rural Finance Window Ltd was established in 2004 as a specialised rural division of PRIDE Tanzania, which mainly works in urban areas. It has 14 branches and mainly provides loans to farmers for crop cultivation as well as livestock rearing. It also finances some of the actors in various value chains and has recently started financing the use of renewable energy products.
The MD of PRIDE RFW Ltd is Mr James Obama, a veteran of financial services for the poor in Tanzania