FINCA International

The Foundation for International Community Assistance

FINCA specializes in village banking, which brings small groups of community members together as a financial support group. These groups, predominantly made up of women, give women newfound borrowing ability. With financing through FINCA Haiti, these borrowers are able to start or expand small businesses with loans that average just $300.

FINCA’s clients are primarily the working poor. It reaches out to these clients, 70% of whom are women, through a form of lending called village banking. Using this method, FINCA is able to provide microcredit to neighborhood cooperatives made up of approximately 10 Haitians who, together, are able to gain access to credit that they could not have secured alone.

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FINCA International

Type	Nonprofit Organization
Founded	1984
Headquarters	Washington, DC, United States
Key people	John Htach, founder, and Rupert Scofield, President and CEO
Products	Financial Services Microfinance
Revenue	US $105,157,764 (Dec 31, 2007)
Total assets	US $367,153,860 (Dec 31, 2007)
Employees	approximately 7,000 (Mar 31, 2009)
Website	www.FINCA.org

Transforming Lives and Livelihoods

• Helped Haitian entrepreneurs, predominantly women, access the finance they need to develop their small and growing businesses, allowing them to support their families and communities.

• Supported borrowers who are otherwise too poor to secure credit from other lenders.

• Employed and trained Haitians in loan management and loan recovery.

• Secured the long-term sustainability of an established microfinance institution in Haiti.

Climate for microfinance:

• Microfinance is an integral part of the relatively underdeveloped financial system.

• The regulatory environment is uncertain. U.S. Dept. of Commerce calls Haitian law, "deficient in a number of areas, including…bank and credit operations."

• Widespread corruption and frequent crime are major problems in Haiti.

Zoe Saldana supports FINCA's Hand Up for Haiti Campaign!

FINCA supporter and Village Banking advocate Zoe Saldana has seen first hand how small loans are helping 8,000 hard-working Haitian women rebuild their families' lives after last year's devastating earthquake. In her special message she shares how FINCA's small loans make it possible for Haitian women to harness their creativity, resourcefulness and determination to develop businesses that allow them to work their way out of poverty and support the recovery of Haiti. Please join Zoe in keeping hope alive for FINCA Haiti and support FINCA's Hand up for Haiti Campaign!

FINCA Haiti (Founded 1989)

Headquartered in Port au Prince, FINCA Haiti currently has 10 branches all over the country in Aquin, Cap Haitien, Hinche Jacmel, Les Cayes, Limbe, Petite Goâve, Ounaminthe, Miragoâne, and St. Marc.

Our average client is a married woman with 3-7 children who sells food stuffs, cookware, charcoal, used clothing, or soft drinks in a local market near her home. Even $1 per day of added income has an enormous impact on their families' quality of life.

Famn Vayant and Small Success Stories

FINCA Haiti

Clients: 4,006

Village Banking groups: 216

Percent women: 84%

Loans outstanding: $654,708

On-time repayment: 98.2%

Average loan: $424

Services: Village Banking and enterprise banks

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BRANCH Locations:

About FINCA

FINCA provides financial services to the world's lowest-income entrepreneurs so they can create jobs, build assets and improve their standard of living. We are an anti-poverty organization whose work is aimed at creating employment, raising family incomes, and reducing poverty worldwide.

We offer small loans and other products to those turned down by traditional banks, believing that even the poor have a right to financial services. With these loans, families can invest in, and build, their own small businesses and their income-earning capacity. Worldwide, our clients post repayment rates over 97 percent.

FINCA pioneered the “Village Banking method” of credit delivery, now used by hundreds of organizations worldwide. Our programs reach the poor in more diverse countries than any other microcredit provider. We operate Village Banking programs in 22 countries of Africa, Eurasia, the Greater Middle East  and Latin America, serving nearly one million people – 70% women.

We’re not a typical charity. We offer loans, not gifts, and we promote financial independence, both among our clients and in our programs. Although we are a nonprofit, we operate using sound business principles and an entrepreneurial spirit.

Our work enables poor families to create their own solutions to poverty. Our Village Banking methodology promotes community and individual development, helping lift entire communities out of poverty.

Principles that Dignify and Empower the Poor:

• Lending to Women - When given the opportunity, women are responsible borrowers, diligent savers and competent managers who use their income almost exclusively to benefit their children.
   
• A Self-Employment Loan, Not a Gift - Unlike handouts, which only weaken the dignity of the recipient, FINCA loans build discipline, responsibility and the self-confidence that comes from creating one’s own business.
   
• Trusting the Poor - Village Banking represents grassroots democracy in action – members elect officers, write by-laws, choose investments, disburse and collect loans, and manage savings.
   
• High Loan Repayment - Every loan made to an individual is guaranteed by the “moral collateral” of the group. FINCA averages a 97% repayment rate overall.
   
• Self-Sufficiency - FINCA offers low-income families microsavings plans as a way to encourage savings for education or other future investment, helping them create their own safety net.
   
• Individual and Group Empowerment - Village Banks are support groups where each member is inspired and encouraged to reach her full potential.