Haiti
Financing granted
Capital investment of €46,000
Loan of €74,500 *
(equivalent in local currency)
Foundation partner
since 2015
*Outstanding amount at grant value
Partner website
Context:
In Haiti, 72% of households do not have access to electricity and 90% of the population depends on charcoal as cooking fuel. To contribute to the fight against poverty and global warming, Palmis Enèji promotes access for all to clean, modern and economic energy.
The company:
Palmis Enèji is a Haitian social enterprise. Since 2012, it has been developing a range of high-quality products with a strong health, economic and ecological impact: solar lighting and economical cooking solutions.
Impact:
Since 2013 Palmis Enèji has provided access to solar lighting and clean cooking solutions to more than 34,000 homes and improved the living conditions of more than 136,000 people. In addition, more than 45,605 tonnes of wood were saved, a reduction in CO2 emissions of 79,996 tonnes, 135 million hours of light for households and €2,5M in savings for families.
News
[Interview] Palmis Enèji: For clean and accessible energy in Haiti
Interview with Jean-Farreau Guerrier, Coordinator of Entrepreneurs du Monde, Haiti
Access to clean energy is essential to meeting the needs of populations, particularly in rural or landlocked areas. In Haiti, the social enterprise Palmis Enèji, in which the Foundation is a shareholder, provides a solution with ecological and economical cooking and lighting equipment. Coordinated by the NGO Entrepreneurs du Monde, the project continues to grow. It has benefited in particular from a Solidarity Banker assignment through the Foundation for a fundraising drive in the near future.
– Tell us about Palmis Enèji. How is this social enterprise adapted in Haiti?
Jean-Farreau Guerrier, coordinator: Palmis Enèji is a Haitian social enterprise that specializes in the distribution and maintenance of clean cooking and lighting equipment for the most disadvantaged households in Haiti. The situation is critical in our country, so action is needed. Already one of the poorest countries on the planet, Haiti is going through a crisis that is severely affecting its population. Street demonstrations are frequent, the security situation is deteriorating, and some areas are completely inaccessible. Hit by an inflation rate of nearly 20%, households are losing purchasing power, 62% of them remain without access to electricity and up to 85% are in rural areas. As a result, families use candles or kerosene for lighting and charcoal for cooking. With its stoves and solar lamps, Palmis Enèji offers solutions to replace these rudimentary methods.
–What are the socio-economic impacts of your actions?
Thanks to partnerships with microfinance institutions, Palmis Enèji provides financing solutions that facilitate the acquisition of equipment. Many households and professionals are thus switching to cooking using LPG, which is far less harmful than charcoal cooking. The poorest families in rural areas have practically no access to LPG, so they use our improved charcoal stoves, which consume 20% to 30% less than traditional stoves. Our solar lamps also provide them with lighting, which is healthier and more comfortable than candles. These solutions enable the poorest families to save money while reducing their ecological footprint: we estimate that we have helped save over 153,000 tonnes of forest timber and reduced harmful CO2 emissions by more than 203,000 tonnes. Finally, Palmis Enèji supports economic activity with a network of franchised micro-businesses. As one of our resellers aptly summarized the social utility: “I am proud to see light shining in our families.”
– What upcoming developments do you foresee?
We are pursuing the strong objective of making devices, which are beneficial to health and to the environment, accessible to everyone in every village. To that end, we are prioritizing three projects: access to LPG through distribution centres in the centre of the country and in the Grande-Anse department; the development of the after-sales service and diversification of our product range; and the expansion of our partner network.
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Source: Integrated Report 2019, Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation. Download it here
Meeting N°4 of the Foundation’s Friends Club: the Solidarity Banker program in the spotlight
Launched by the Grameen Crédit Agricole and Crédit Agricole S.A. Foundation in June 2018, Solidarity Banker is a skills volunteering programme open to all Crédit Agricole Group employees in support of microfinance institutions or impact companies supported by the Foundation. To celebrate its first year, the programme was honoured at the Foundation’s Friends Club Meeting N°4, held on 9 July at Crédit Agricole’s Campus in Montrouge.
Solidarity banker: balance sheet of the first year
The meeting was rich in exchanges, beginning with the speeches of Jean-Marie Sander, President of the Foundation, and Eric Campos, Executive Director of the Foundation and CSR Director of Crédit Agricole S.A. Recalling the history of the Foundation and the various challenges it faces, both stressed the importance of providing technical support to the Foundation’s partners through mechanisms such as the Solidarity Banker.
Carolina Herrera, Director of Communication and Partnerships of the Foundation, then presented the framework of the Solidarity Banker programme. With field missions lasting one to two weeks, Crédit Agricole Group employees support the Foundation’s partners to meet the technical support needs expressed by the beneficiary organisations. Since the beginning of the program, 12 missions have been launched: a great success that demonstrates the strong commitment of employees and the Group.
The next Solidarity Bankers
To testify to this, Violette Cubier and Céline Hyon-Naudin, Investment Officers at the Foundation, presented the next missions alongside two Solidarity Bankers. Sarah Belbachir of Crédit Agricole SA and Caman Kamougue of Crédit Agricole CIB are the two solidarity bankers who, supported by the Group’s entities, will travel to Morocco and Haiti this summer to support Al Karama, a microfinance institution, and Palmis Enèji, a social impact company, respectively. They presented the objectives of the missions and highlighted their desire to contribute to a project with a strong social impact as well as personal and professional enrichment as the main motivations to become Solidarity Bankers.
The meeting ended with a presentation of the Foundation’s Strategic Plan 2019-2022 by Hélène Keraudren-Baube, Administrative and Financial Director, who recalled our three strategic pillars: strengthening microfinance expertise, developing the resilience of rural economies and promoting impact finance within the Group.
A first successful year for the Solidarity banker programme
By Carolina Herrera, Fondation Grameen Crédit Agricole
At the initiative of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A., “Solidarity Banker” missions are offered to Crédit Agricole Group employees on behalf of microfinance institutions or companies with a social impact supported by the Foundation.
Senegal, Morocco, Haiti… : a great success for the first year
Less than a year after its launch in 2018, the success of the program confirms the commitment and willingness of employees to support projects with a social impact. This is the first time that a partnership of this type has been launched by Crédit Agricole and the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation. The objective is twofold: on the one hand, to enhance the skills of Crédit Agricole Group employees and, on the other hand, to provide additional support to the Foundation’s microfinance institutions and partner companies with one- to two-week missions in the field.
In 2018, six missions were launched, three of which were carried out in 2018 and three planned for 2019. For example, a mission took place in Cambodia with the support of Crédit Agricole’s International Retail Banking (BPI) to support the human resources management of Chamroeun, a partner microfinance institution serving more than 27,500 clients. Another mission was carried out in Senegal, in partnership with Crédit Agricole Franche-Comté, in favour of Laiterie du Berger, a social enterprise in which the Foundation is a shareholder. In addition, with the support of the Regional Bank, the Solidarity Banker who carried out the mission left for 2 years to support Kossam, the Dairy’s project to structure the dairy sector in Senegal.
A mission launched in 2018 will be carried out in July 2019 in cooperation with Crédit du Maroc and Crédit Agricole SA to improve the Al Karama Foundation’s anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing systems (AML-FT). The institution currently supports more than 26,200 clients in Morocco. Another mission launched in 2018 will be carried out in Haiti to support Palmis Enèji, a social enterprise that offers clean and accessible cooking and lighting solutions to Haitian households. Crédit Agricole Corporate Investment Bank supports the Solidarity Banker, who will carry out the entire mission in terms of skills sponsorship.
Cambodia, Kenya, Tajikistan… in 2019 the programme scales up
To date, six missions have been launched in 2019. A mission in favour of Kossam, the Laiterie du Berger project, which aims to develop a sustainable dairy sector in Senegal. The Solidarity Banker will be responsible for supporting Kossam in the deployment of a digital “commcare collection” application. Another mission is planned to support the financial management and organizational structure of Cirque Phare (PPSE) in Cambodia. PPSE aims to promote the social inclusion and empowerment of young people through Cambodian culture and arts. A mission will take place in favour of ACRE Africa, which provides crop insurance services to smallholders. The Solidarity Banker will be responsible for analysing the organisation’s new business strategy.
For these first missions launched in 2019, the selection process for Solidarity Bankers has been finalised. To date, three new missions are to be filled: a mission to support the “business model” of Humo, a microfinance institution in Tajikistan; a “management control” mission to support Musoni, a microfinance institution in Kenya; and a “digital” mission to support SFA, a social enterprise in Senegal.
Other missions are currently being planned with the support of the Crédit Agricole Group’s entities and Regional Banks. With this scheme, the Group reaffirms its commitment to support employees’ solidarity initiatives and work alongside the Foundation to promote more inclusive and sustainable finance.
“Solidarity Banker” missions to be filled in Kazakhstan and Haiti
“Solidarity Banker” is a new type of volunteering mission abroad proposed to the staff on behalf of microfinance institutions and social business companies that are partners of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundations. Two missions are to be filled: one on “Agricultural loans” in Kazakhstan and a “Business model” mission in Haiti.
Missions to be filled
The first mission to be carried out in 2019 will be for KMF in Kazakhstan. KMF is the primary microfinance institution in Kazakhstan with more than 220 000 active borrowers and a portfolio of over €250 million. The institution wishes to develop its offer of products and services by diversifying its agricultural loan portfolio.
The Solidarity Banker’s mission will be to propose a diversification model for the current loan portfolio of KMF by introducing a new product. S/he will also provide tools for reducing specific risks to agricultural loans. The mission is planned for the first quarter of 2019.
The second mission will provide advice and guidance to Palmis Enèji, a social business in which the Foundation has a shareholding interest in Haiti. Created in 2013 as a programme of the French NGO Entrepreneurs du Monde, it provides effective, specific and economic cooking and lighting solutions for Haitian households. It has developed a distribution network consisting of 150 active resellers in 5 regions of the country who sell lamps and solar kits, improved coal stoves and gas stoves.
The Solidarity Banker’s mission will be to advise and guide the company in defining a 5-year business plan based on its current position, its market and opportunities. S/he will also make recommendations on raising funds to support the growth presented in the business plan. The date of the mission will be set according to the availability of the person selected.
How to apply?
There are several missions pending for CA Solidaires. To discover them:
- Go to the CA Solidaires website “Find your mission “
- Enter “Grameen Foundation” in the search bar: All the Solidarity Leaves will appear!
- Click on the offer of your choice and you will find all the information you need to apply.
- For more information: carolina.herrera@credit-agricole-sa.fr
