A development bank's success with micro-finance: Banco do Nordeste's CrediAmigo

Author: Mugica, Yerina; London, Ted
Publication Date: 2004
Publisher / Source: UNC and World Business Council for Sustainable Development
Length: 21 Pages
File Type: PDF
Language: English
Country: Brazil
Topics: Business Models, Innovation, Social Performance
Keywords: informal economy, access, commercial banks, innovation, delivery models

Notes:

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Abstract

An estimated 15.7 million people in Brazil work in the informal economy as micro-entrepreneurs, outnumbering formal sector entrepreneurs by more than three to one. Of these informal micro-entrepreneurs, 93% run profitable businesses. However, 84% of these micro-entrepreneurs do not have access to credit. In November 1996 at a meeting in Fortaleza, the World Bank and Banco do Nordeste, a development bank formed to support growth in northeastern Brazil, decided to initiate a collaborative process to jointly implement a local development program based on the idea of micro-credit.