Launched by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A., Solidarity Banker is a skills volunteering programme open to all Crédit Agricole Group employees in support of organisations financed by the Foundation. Since the start of the programme in June 2018, 12 missions have been launched. This is a great success and demonstrates the commitment of employees and the Group to support projects with a social impact.

To celebrate this first year of success, a meeting is being organised on 9 July at Crédit Agricole’s Campus in Montrouge. Come and talk to the Foundation’s team and the Solidarity Bankers who will support the Foundation’s partners in Morocco and Haiti.

For more information, please contact carolina.herrera@credit-agricole-sa.fr

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Created in 2008, under the joint impetus of the directors of Crédit Agricole S.A. and Professor Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Grameen Bank, the Grameen Crédit Agricole SA Foundation is a multi-business operator that contributes to the fight against poverty through financial inclusion and entrepreneurship with a social impact. As an investor, lender, technical assistance coordinator and fund advisor, the Foundation supports microfinance institutions and social enterprises in nearly 40 countries.

This summer, follow on Instagram the Group’s employees who have committed themselves to the “Solidarity Banker” missions.

Solidarity Banker is a skills volunteering programme open to all Crédit Agricole Group employees for organisations funded by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation. Created in 2008, the Foundation supports over 75 microfinance institutions and social enterprises in some 30 countries.

Since the launch of the programme in June 2018, 12 missions have been proposed. This is a great success and it demonstrates the commitment of employees and the Group to support projects with a social impact.

This summer, we will follow three solidarity bankers throughout their missions: a first “digital” mission to support a Senegalese social enterprise, a “business plan” mission to support a Haitian social enterprise and a “Prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing (AML/CFT)” mission to support a microfinance institution in Morocco.

A Solidarity Banker from Crédit Agricole CIB in Senegal

From Sunday 30 June, follow Haoly Basse, who, with the support of Crédit Agricole CIB, is heading to Senegal to support KOSSAM, a social enterprise that works with nearly 450 local farmers and aims to develop a sustainable dairy sector in the North of the country. Haoly will support Kossam in the deployment of a digital application that will improve collection conditions and KOSSAM’s knowledge of breeder-suppliers.

A great story to add: KOSSAM is now managed by Jonathan Michaud, an agricultural engineer from Crédit Agricole Franche Comté who, after a mission as a Solidarity Banker for La Laiterie du Berger, was seconded for 2 years to support the development of the project.

A Solidarity Banker from Crédit Agricole SA in Morocco

On July 13th, Sarah Belbachir, a Solidarity Banker from Crédit Agricole SA went to Morocco to support the Al Karam Foundation, a partner microfinance institutionof the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation. The mission, which is done in cooperation with Crédit du Maroc, which organized a training session in skills sponsorship, and Crédit Agricole SA, aims at improving the Alkarama Foundation’s anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing systems (AML-FT). The institution currently supports more than 26,200 clients in Morocco.

Visit the Group’s Instagram account @groupecreditagricolecareers !

For further information, visit //gca-foundation.org/solidarity-banker
Contact Carolina Herrera

An innovative partnership to support microfinance

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit du Maroc are committed to the microfinance sector in Morocco. They set up an intervention scheme that allows Crédit du Maroc to finance the microfinance institution in local currency with the guarantee of the Foundation, which also takes care of the monitoring process.

Created in 2008 by Crédit Agricole’s managers and the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Professor Yunus, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation finances and supports more than 75 microfinance institutions and social enterprises in Africa, Asia and Europe with more than €80 million in outstanding loans. Crédit du Maroc has been supporting the country’s economic development by financing individual and corporate customers since 1929.

With this partnership, Crédit du Maroc is strengthening its action as a bank committed to inclusive finance. “The partnership with the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation will allow us to get as close as possible to the ecosystem of the very small company and income-generating activities, which represents half of the companies registered in Morocco’s central commercial register. It also marks Crédit du Maroc’s civic commitment as a socially responsible company by participating in financial inclusion,” says Baldoméro Valverde, Chairman of Crédit du Maroc’s Executive Board.

For the Foundation, this is a great opportunity to multiply its impact by intervening for the first time in Morocco. “Ten years after the Foundation’s creation, we are building a new history with the Crédit Agricole Group. Alongside Crédit du Maroc, we will support Moroccan institutions to promote social entrepreneurship, financial inclusion and agricultural development. It is a common, tireless commitment to move forward together towards a more shared economy,” says Eric Campos, Managing Director of the Foundation and Head of CSR at Crédit Agricole S.A.

Al Karama, the first funded institution

The Foundation approved a guarantee of €1.1 million on a MAD10.4 million loan granted by Crédit du Maroc to the Al Karama Foundation for Microfinance.

This institution, which provides loans for the development of professional activities, serves more than 27,000 active borrowers, mainly women (57% of clients) and manages a portfolio of more than €10 million. It has operations throughout the country through a network of 84 branches and 314 employees.

In cooperation with Crédit du Maroc, Al Karama will also receive technical assistance to improve its systems to combat money laundering and terrorist financing (AML-FT) as part of the “Solidarity Banker” skills volunteer programme. This scheme, open to all Crédit Agricole Group employees, was launched in 2018 by the Grameen Crédit Agricole and Crédit Agricole S.A. Foundation to support the organisations financed by the Foundation through technical assistance missions (//gca-foundation.org/banquier-solidaire).