Micro Finance meets Agri Business DUTERIMBERE is one of the Micro Finance Institutions that worked closely with CSP in order to facilitate cooperatives in need of access to finance. Agricultural loans were not usual business of this MFI. CSP initated the first step to connect them with cooperatives. It was not easy for the institution to understand the concept of an agriculture value chain. DUTERIMBERE had to find ways to assess the cooperatives before engaging into a business relation with them. CSP, with the support of TERRAFINA, specific tools, like the cooperative assessment matrix, which allowed them to analyze accordingly. At the end of the process, cooperatives which met the required criteria got a loan. “Generally speaking, cooperatives which got a loan are paying back, and we are so far satisfied with them’ said Ndatebe, a credit officer at the Kayonza branch of the MFI DUTERIMBERE.“ “For example, there is a cooperative that got a loan of RwF 8 million and will soon finish to pay back everything. We are ready to consider granting them another loan if they wish so”, he added. introduced “It is still a risky sector. What we are discussing with them is how the risk can be mitigated”, says Ndatebe. 30
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