AFI Microfinance: Increasing the minimum microfinance limit to 25,000 euros

AFI (Action Finance Initiative) Microfinance was founded in 2014 by ActionAid Hellas and the specialized French organization ADIE, as an urban non-profit company, with the purpose to promote the granting of microcredit in Greece to address the financial and social exclusion, providing assistance to unemployed, self-employed and in general vulnerable categories of citizens, facilitating in practice the above categories of citizens who wish to create their business.

Since last year, it has changed its legal form and now operates as a Public Limited Company (S.A.) and Microcredit Institution with the approval of the Bank of Greece, continuing to serve its founding purposes.

Research that has been done on the inclusive economy, as well as the experience of other countries that promote microcredits prove their contribution to the economy and entrepreneurship. Especially in Greece, where small and medium and individual businesses supply a significant percentage of the domestic economy, the liberation of microcredit is extremely important for the recovery given that more than 90% of these needs cannot be met covered by the banks and there are more than 800,000 unemployed, who could become self-employed. In this context, AFI Microfinance intends to scale up both its actions and its information campaigns in the next period of time.

Corresponding research on the importance of financial inclusion and the fight against social exclusion document how microcredit contributes to entrepreneurship. The most applications served by AFI Microfinance concern individual businesses or unemployed who have been excluded from the banking system and through its support mechanism they can make a reboot.

“Given that most of the people who turn to AFI Microfinance are excluded from the banking system, as an organization we do social work. In short, by supporting these people in fulfilling their dreams, the message we send is that access to finance is a universal human right and microcredits have a social dimension. In this context, it is imperative to secure them and further support them with national policies,” emphasizes Anastasia Tsiloglou, General Director of AFI Microfinance.

It is reminded that AFI Microfinance. its new corporate entity has already supported nearly 100 beneficiaries in the last year and more than 800 in its former form. The empowerment of female entrepreneurship, the promotion of the green economy as well as the strengthening of the innovation ecosystem through startups are individual strategic pillars that reflect the scope of microcredit’s social footprint.

As Mrs. Tsiloglou typically points out: «Almost 40% of the beneficiaries are in rural areas, making our impact visible in the Greek region, while 1 in 2 businesses that have received funding are managed by women and/or young people <35 years old. With more than 9 million euros already in the hands of micro-entrepreneurs, AFI remains at the forefront of micro-financing in Greece and is becoming a companion of more than 700,000 small and medium businesses and the unemployed“.

AFI Microfinance is not limited to support through financing, but also offers the beneficiaries training programs and mentoring programs. It also participates in actions to defend small and medium entrepreneurship with the aim of creating a more favorable and fairer environment for small entrepreneurs in Greece.