What to know about this Lending Partner
Status Update - March 28, 2013
Kiva and Microinvest have agreed to end their partnership after more than six years. All outstanding loans have been repaid and no further loans from this partner will be posted to Kiva. We thank Microinvest for being a consistent and reliable partner.
Status Update - July 20, 2009
Many countries in Eastern Europe have been hit particularly hard by the global economic crisis, and many of the clients of Kiva’s Lending Partners are facing increasing challenges in their business ventures. This is the case with the clients of Microinvest in Moldova. Since the beginning of 2009, Microinvest has seen increased delinquencies from clients unable to repay their loans on time (the ratio used to measure client delinquencies is called Portfolio at Risk).
After a thorough review of all delinquencies, Microinvest has determined the primary causes are:
• Decreased demand from importing countries for Moldovan produce due to currency volatility in the region (strong depreciation of the currency of international trade partners, such as Russia, Romania and Ukraine and appreciation of the local currency, the Moldovan Leu)
• Decreasing remittances. Moldovans working abroad are sending significantly less money home to their families (according to the National Bank of Moldova, 34% less money was sent back to Moldova in the first four months of 2009 as compared to the same period last year). This factor was found to have the most significant impact on the Moldovan economy and Microinvest’s clients.
As a consequence of the financial crisis and the corresponding increases in Portfolio at Risk, Microinvest has fallen out of compliance with several of its other funders (7 out of 16). All funders were informed about the situation. Microinvest has taken immediate measures to correct the problem and is already seeing some stabilization. According to Microinvest, all funders have verbally agreed to issue waivers related to Portfolio at Risk, however not all waivers have been signed at this time. Microinvest is in the process of working through the situation with its funders and is updating Kiva regularly and expects to come to an agreement with these funders very soon.
Because the official response of Microinvest’s funders has not yet been confirmed, Kiva, in agreement with Microinvest, is temporarily setting Microinvest’s status to “Paused” until the funder waivers are complete. Microinvest, the organization, has the capacity to repay Kiva lenders on schedule during this paused period, though Kiva lenders may see some increase in delinquencies from Microinvest borrowers. As soon as Kiva determines the situation is resolved, Kiva will restore Microinvest’s “Active” status.
Microinvest would like all Kiva lenders to understand that the organization has implemented a detailed and proactive crisis management plan to ensure the long-term stability of the organization. With a well structured organization, good management and a solid equity base, Microinvest feels that they remain strong and they expect to emerge from this crisis intact.
MICROINVEST DESCRIPTION
MICROINVEST is a microfinance organization launched in April 2003 with the purpose to create and develop micro and small enterprises by providing advisory and financial services. The main founder of MICROINVEST LLC is Soros Fundation Moldova.
MICROINVEST's services target primarily those entrepreneurial initiatives which carry potential for development, but cannot meet the requirements for the commercial banks credits.
To read more about their thorough screening process, see here: http://www.microinvest.md/services/imprumuturi/en.html