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Oikocredit
Oikocredit (in full Oikocredit, Ecumenical Development Cooperative Society U.A.) is a cooperative society that offers loans or investment capital for microfinance institutions, cooperatives and small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries. It is one of the world's largest private financiers of the microfinance sector. The idea for Oikocredit came from a 1968 meeting of the World Council of Churches. Following this, Oikocredit was established in 1975 in the Netherlands. As a co-operative, Oikocredit finances and invests in fair trade organisations, co-operatives, microfinance institutions, and small to medium-sized enterprises in many developing countries. In 2016 Oikocredit had offices in 31 countries. On 25 March 2010, Oikocredit announced that it had reached €1 billion in cumulative committed loans and investments since the organisation began its operations. In 2009, a year when financial institutions encountered difficult market conditions, Oikocredit achieved r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oikocredit Logo
Oikocredit (in full Oikocredit, Ecumenical Development Cooperative Society U.A.) is a cooperative society that offers loans or investment capital for microfinance institutions, cooperatives and small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries. It is one of the world's largest private financiers of the microfinance sector. The idea for Oikocredit came from a 1968 meeting of the World Council of Churches. Following this, Oikocredit was established in 1975 in the Netherlands. As a co-operative, Oikocredit finances and invests in fair trade organisations, co-operatives, microfinance institutions, and small to medium-sized enterprises in many developing countries. In 2016 Oikocredit had offices in 31 countries. On 25 March 2010, Oikocredit announced that it had reached €1 billion in cumulative committed loans and investments since the organisation began its operations. In 2009, a year when financial institutions encountered difficult market conditions, Oikocredit achieved r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alternative Bank Schweiz
Alternative Bank Switzerland (ABS) is a sustainability-oriented bank based in Olten, Canton of Solothurn, in Switzerland. It is situated at the former location of the Walter Verlag. Microfinancing In March 2009, eleven ethical banks formed a global alliance to strengthen alternatives to the crisis-shaken conventional financial model. The new network was launched in the Netherlands, and ABS was a founding member of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values. The members also include Bangladesh (BRAC Bank), Peru (Mibanco), USA (ShoreBank Corporation), Germany (GLS Bank), Mongolia (XacBank) comprising, as of 2009, about 12,000 million Swiss francs assets and seven million customers in 20 countries to form the Global Alliance. Its goals include ''solidar economic cooperation, long-term action and responsible income''. ABS offers to their customers a bank account to support microfinancing, the so-called ''Oikocredit-Förderkonto'' in co-operation with international partners. To provi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Council Of Churches
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Old Catholic Church, the Lutheran churches, the Anglican Communion, the Mennonite churches, the Methodist churches, the Moravian Church, Mar Thoma Syrian Church and the Reformed churches, as well as the Baptist World Alliance and Pentecostal churches. Notably, the Catholic Church is not a full member, although it sends delegates to meetings who have observer status. The WCC describes itself as "a worldwide fellowship of 349 global, regional and sub-regional, national and local churches seeking unity, a common witness and Christian service". It has no head office as such, but its administrative centre is at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The organization's members include deno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microfinance
Microfinance is a category of financial services targeting individuals and small businesses who lack access to conventional banking and related services. Microfinance includes microcredit, the provision of small loans to poor clients; savings and checking accounts; microinsurance; and payment systems, among other services. Microfinance services are designed to reach excluded customers, usually poorer population segments, possibly socially marginalized, or geographically more isolated, and to help them become self-sufficient.Christen, Robert Peck Christen; Rosenberg, Richard; Jayadeva, Veena. ''Financial institutions with a double-bottom line: Implications for the future of microfinance''. CGAP, Occasional Papers series, July 2004, pp. 2–3. ID Ghana is an example of a microfinance institution. Microfinance initially had a limited definition: the provision of microloans to poor entrepreneurs and small businesses lacking access to credit. The two main mechanisms for the delive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cooperative
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-controlled enterprise".Statement on the Cooperative Identity. ''.'' Cooperatives are democratically controlled by their members, with each member having one vote in electing the board of directors. Cooperatives may include: * businesses owned and managed by the people who consume th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Small And Medium-sized Enterprises
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by international organizations such as the World Bank, the European Union, the United Nations, and the World Trade Organization (WTO). In any given national economy, SMEs sometimes outnumber large companies by a wide margin and also employ many more people. For example, Australian SMEs makeup 98% of all Australian businesses, produce one-third of the total GDP (gross domestic product) and employ 4.7 million people. In Chile, in the commercial year 2014, 98.5% of the firms were classified as SMEs. In Tunisia, the self-employed workers alone account for about 28% of the total non-farm employment, and firms with fewer than 100 employees account for about 62% of total employment. The United States' SMEs generate half of all U.S. jobs, but only 40% of GDP. Developing countries tend to have a lar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fair Trade
Fair trade is an arrangement designed to help producers in developing countries achieve sustainable and equitable trade relationships. The fair trade movement combines the payment of higher prices to exporters with improved social and environmental standards. The movement focuses in particular on commodities, or products that are typically exported from developing countries to developed countries but is also used in domestic markets (e.g., Brazil, the United Kingdom and Bangladesh), most notably for handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, wine, sugar, fruit, flowers and gold. Fair trade labelling organizations commonly use a definition of ''fair trade'' developed by FINE, an informal association of four international fair trade networks: Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International, World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), Network of European Worldshops and European Fair Trade Association (EFTA). Fair trade, by this definition, is a trading partnership based on dialogue, transparency a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microfinance Organizations
Microfinance is a category of financial services targeting individuals and small businesses who lack access to conventional banking and related services. Microfinance includes microcredit, the provision of small loans to poor clients; savings and checking accounts; microinsurance; and payment systems, among other services. Microfinance services are designed to reach excluded customers, usually poorer population segments, possibly socially marginalized, or geographically more isolated, and to help them become self-sufficient.Christen, Robert Peck Christen; Rosenberg, Richard; Jayadeva, Veena. ''Financial institutions with a double-bottom line: Implications for the future of microfinance''. CGAP, Occasional Papers series, July 2004, pp. 2–3. ID Ghana is an example of a microfinance institution. Microfinance initially had a limited definition: the provision of microloans to poor entrepreneurs and small businesses lacking access to credit. The two main mechanisms for the deliver ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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