Project Overview

Although financial cooperatives are uniquely positioned to deliver livelihood-enhancing financial services including savings, credit, and insurance, evidence shows that there is significant unmet demand for small and medium enterprise (SME) credit in developing countries. This is in part because financial cooperatives and credit unions do not have the capacity and tools to deliver SME finance. Only six to eight percent of adults in CDP TIFI target countries have access to credit, compared to 11 percent globally and 34 percent in the United States (World Bank Global Findex 2017, https://globalfindex.worldbank.org/). Women, youths, and rural adults have even lower access to credit than average.

The CDP TIFI activity, funded by USAID will increase lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by deploying the World Council SME FinanceToolkit, starting in three countries – Burkina Faso, Guatemala, and Kenya – each with its own key partner: Confédération des Institutions Financières de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (Confederation of Financial Institutions of West Africa, CIF), Federación Nacional de Cooperativas de Ahorro y Crédito (National Federation of Savings and Credit Cooperatives, FENACOAC), and the Kenyan Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (KUSCCO). The project expanded operations to Senegal in October 2020 where it is working with Union des Mutuelles du Partenariat pour la Mobilisation de l'Epargne et du Crédit au Senegal (UM-PAMECAS). These partners represent and provide technical support to multi-million-member networks of credit unions. 

The World Council SME Finance Toolkit is designed to:

• Reduce lending risk by credit unions to SMEs, who often do not have formal or documented credit histories and who may not be able to provide the same types of documentation and collateral that are required for more traditional loans.
• Streamline and simplify the SME lending process, thereby reducing costs of lending to SMEs.
• Increase the number and quality of financial products available to SMEs, thereby increasing SME financial inclusion.

Success Stories

Cooperative-owned Finance Organization Helps Couple's Business Flourish	Kenyan Credit Unions help Women Turn Entrepreneurial Dreams into Reality
A small agribusiness is thriving with the help of a local credit union service organization (CUSO) the TIFI project helped to create in Guatemala.	A small- and medium-enterprise (SME) lending program run through the TIFI Project helped a woman get a loan through her credit union to open her own pharmacy.

Featured Stories

Credit Unions in Burkina Faso

• 76 total credit unions
• 1,799,562 million members
• USD 272 million in loans

Credit Unions in Guatemala

• 25 total credit unions
• 2.5 million members
• USD 3.7 billion in assets

Credit Unions in Kenya

• 8,744 total credit unions
• 10.8 million members
• USD 21.8 billion in assets

Credit Unions in Senegal

• 118 total credit unions
• 3.8 million members
• USD 975 million in loans