MICROCREDIT
Micro credits are windows, that are opened for poor people, the so-called bottom of the pyramid, the "unbankable" - to find a way out of poverty. With permanent access to money and with guidance and coaching and the possibility of small scaled insurances and savings a poor person can leave poverty for ever behind.
Grameen Bank estimates that a poor person needs approximately 7 years regularily access to credit - to be no longer vulnerable to become poor again.
NOW
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE KOPEME GROUP – Way out of Poverty in Togo
In January 2011 the Kopeme Group has 16 employees and disbursed microcredits to 8500 borrowers.
The smallest loan-amount that has been lent out to an individual is 4.000 CFA – around 6,10 Euro
The highest possible individual amount is 100.000 CFA – around 153 Euro
60 to 70 % of the Kopeme Bank clients live in villages, 30 – 40 % are slum-dwellers in the capital, Lomé. All of them when starting with Kopeme are considered to be extremely poor. 75 % of the kopeme borrowers are women.
For the past development the Kopeme Bank was financed by private smart investors; in 2011 the Kopeme Group requires 1.000.000 Euro for the second round
History of Kopeme in short:
In January 2007 the first micro credits were disbursed to a group of 15 women - altogether 1,500 Euro; all paid their credit back and are still with us. At the end of 2008 we counted 212 micro borrowers in 6 groups, whereby one of it is a rural savings' group with 100 members; the others are developed in the capital Lomé. In May 2009 Mr. FIAYIWO completed a training with the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh - in June 2009 the first Branch of the Kopeme Bank in Vogan was opened and counted 226 applicants for the credit, in August there were already 450 borrowers. In April 2010 Kopeme Bank counts 5.091 borrowers and in January 2011 8.500 borrowers.
Kopeme works like Grameen with groups, with very poor and is running the procedure to become the Bank of the poor - the Bank that belongs to the Poor - Kopeme is no Grameen Replication - it is a transformation of what the founder, Jerome Fiayiwo, learnt in Bangladesh into the realities in Togo."
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Development and faces behind the numbers |
