BCRS Business Loans was established in 2002. Its Mission is to lend responsibly and with impact by meeting the demand from SME businesses unable to fully access finance from traditional sources. BCRS provides relationship-based lending with Loans from £10,000 to £150,000. BCRS works with small to medium size enterprises from most sectors that are unable to obtain commercial bank finance. ...

The World Habitat Awards recognise and highlight innovative, outstanding and sometimes revolutionary housing ideas, projects and programmes from across the world. The World Habitat Awards are a great opportunity for projects to receive the recognition they deserve. Being a finalist or winner will bring international recognition. Winning projects also receive a cash prize of £10,000, a trophy and have the ...

  ESF financial instruments supporting employment, entrepreneurship and social inclusion in the programming period 2014-2020 31 January, Rome (Italy) Programme Experiences from already active financial instruments can be a source of inspiration and basis of discussion for practitioners who are interested in advancing with similar financial instruments. The thematic fi-compass workshop on ESF financial instruments supporting employment, entrepreneurship and social inclusion in the ...

Digitalizing Microfinance in Europe The paper summarizes the results of the survey on the use of fintech solutions and digitalization of the customer relations and lending process among MFIs in Europe. While there is a widespread recognition about the need to use digital processes to a larger degree, the ability and willingness of MFIs to do that varies greatly. The ...

Watch the webinar!   The webinar will take place on 23rd January 2018 at 12:00 noon CET.  Please register for this meeting here. The webinar will present the results of the research aimed at exploring the role of microfinance in providing financial services to start-up enterprises. We will discuss opportunities and challenges faced by the microfinance sector to more deeply engage ...

Banca Popolare Etica, CoopEst and Microfinance Centre signed a collaboration agreement this November in Brussels in the European Parliment. All institutions wish to consolidate the microfinance sector in Europe and to increase its social impact. This Agreement intends to support MF projects, both financially and operationally, with particular concern to support funding needs of MFC Members in Eastern and Central European countries through the intermediation ...

  Banca Etica (Italy) is a cooperative bank operating in Italy and Spain, owned by citizens and social organisations and is inspired by the principles of Ethical Finance: transparency, participation, sobriety, efficiency, and the awareness of the non-economic consequences of economic actions. Banca Etica is free from the influence of politics and economic-financial groups, and its members are citizens and organisations; ...

  We are pleased to announce that Asian Credit Fund, the 2nd largest MFI in Kazakhstan by clients, is celebrating its 20th anniversary! Since its founding in 1997, ACF has supported over 117.000 entrepreneurs and households in Kazakhstan with a total of $74.2M in disbursed loans among  115.000 clients. Women are a key focus of ACF’s business, and currently comprise ...

  We are pleased to share with you the first results of our 2017 Borrow Wisely Campaign! During the month of October, our partners from 15 countries were able to reach out to over 235 000 of people. Through face to face meetings, workshops, text messages, Facebook, and websites our members were educating their clients about the rules of wise borrowing. ...

As in previous years, in 2017 MFC has been leading a growing group of financial education stakeholders, i.e. likeminded Polish partners to advocate for better coordination and quality of efforts. This informal group is called Partnership for Financial Education and comprises NGOs, commercial companies and public institutions, such as Ombudsmen. The representatives of Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education, and Polish ...