Oikocredit’s Top 5: our most-read stories of the year

In a year marked by what has been called a poly crisis, Oikocredit’s community is more closely focused on impact investments than ever. Looking at traffic to our website over the past year, the top themes have focused on how our cooperative is leveraging new and long-standing partnerships to invest for sustainable development in our core regions of Africa, Latin America and India.

The interest and support of our members and investors enables us to fulfil our mission of empowering people from low-income communities with opportunities for growth. As such, we’re pleased to see that readers are most interested in how we make an impact by building strong partnerships in the communities we serve.

Here are the five articles that attracted the most attention in 2023:

€10 million to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Côte d’Ivoire

In February, Oikocredit and Triodos IM co-invested in a € 10 million subordinated facility to Bridge Bank Group Côte d’Ivoire (BBG CI). The funding aims to help the bank expand its reach and support a greater number of SMEs, in turn contributing to the economic development of the region. Read the story.

89% of end-clients say Oikocredit’s partners had a positive influence on their wellbeing

How do you evaluate impact? By asking for feedback. For three years now, Oikocredit has been actively listening to feedback and perspectives from end-clients. These are our partner organisations’ customers.

In this year’s survey, Oikocredit surveyed nearly 16,500 end-clients across Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and Asia. Their responses enable us to help partner organisations build capacity, roll out new changes and ultimately create more positive impact.

Good news – the majority (89%) say our partners’ work had a positive effect on their wellbeing. Access the insights.

Celebrating Unaitas, which helped 50,000 individuals since the coronavirus outbreak

Kenyan cooperative Unaitas has been an Oikocredit partner since 1997. Since then, it has become one of the country’s leading cooperatives, focusing on smallholder agriculture, small and medium enterprises, and social housing.

It played a particularly important role in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. With a loan of € 8.5 million euros from Oikocredit in 2021, Unaitas has been able to support more than 5,000 SMEs affected by the pandemic. Take a look.

Expanding access to off-grid solar energy in Africa

Access to clean electricity helps alleviate poverty, supports education and healthcare, and unlock opportunities for the world’s poorest people, according to the UNDP. That’s why we’re pleased to be working with Yellow, a supplier of pay-as-you-go off-grid solar solutions and appliances. This year, we announced a $5-million loan to help the energy provider connect an estimated 89,000 underserved households in sub-Saharan Africa. Learn more.

Why Oikocredit’s mission is more relevant than ever – and how we make a difference

Oikocredit was established nearly 50 years ago, but our mission is more important than ever, particularly as low-income communities must deal with rising inequality and poverty, a spending power crisis, and the increasing effects of climate change.

Director of Impact Investments Dave Smit offers some insights into the strategies underpinning how we work, the different ways in which our investments make a difference – and how Oikocredit and its partners are well positioned to drive positive change. Get the inside view.