When there are enough funds to meet the required loan amount, the loan will be disbursed on the first day of the following month. Your loan bears interest as of that day.

There are no costs associated with joining our platform or investing, whether you pay via iDeal or credit card. The repayment process is also free of charge.

You can pay with iDeal (available for Dutch bank account holders), Bancontact (available for Belgian bank account holders) and bank transfer. No fees are applied. We hope to offer payments by credit card again soon.

The money you invest via our platform should be taken into account in box 3 for private investors.

For business accounts, the return is charged with company tax.

Minimum

At Lendahand, you can invest for as little as EUR 10. This amount can be increased in increments of 10.  

Maximum

Lendahand recommends that you only invest amounts that you can responsibly justify (AFM advises not to invest more in crowdfunding than 10% of funds available). Furthermore, we strongly discourage funders from investing with borrowed money. 

Choose a project

Yes. When creating an account, select either a 'private' or 'business' account. You will need to supply a (recent) Chamber of Commerce copy, the company’s statutes, and shareholders’ IDs with more than a 25% stake.

Create business account

The legal terms for the investment are part of the terms and conditions. You will always get a confirmation email. Additionally, you will receive an email when the project is fully funded. You can also download the obtained notes per project in My Lendahand.

If a crowdfunding project does not deliver the required amount within 60 days, your committed investment will be returned. So far Lendahand has a 100% funding rate.

You can invest if you have an EU, Schengen space or UK Identification document. Complete list here. If you are from outside these countries, please send an email to info@lendahand.com and we will assist you further. 

please note: in some countries certain legal requirements may apply to Investors. It is your responsibility to ensure that such requirements are met.

At the moment Lendahand offers investments in euros (EUR) and U.S. dollars (USD).

The following applies for euro investments: you pay in euros and are repaid in euros. The risks of exchange rate fluctuations are covered by our local partners and/or entrepreneurs.

For US dollar investments: you also pay in euros and are repaid in euros. However, after a project is fully funded, on the first business day of the next month, the total amount in EUR from the project will be converted to USD at the exchange rate previously set by IbanFirst, our exchange rate partner. Repayments are then converted back from USD to EUR on the repayment day. Find more information on our currency page.

Prospectus law

The offering of the notes is exempt from the obligation to publish a prospectus in accordance with Article 7 §1, 2° of the Belgian Act of 11 July 2018 on the public offering of investment instruments and the admission to trading of investment instruments to a regulated market. Furthermore, in accordance with Article 11 of the same Belgian Act of 11 July 2018, Lendahand is required to publish an information note. This information note is equally not issued under the control of and will not be approved by the Belgian Autoriteit voor Financiële Diensten en Markten/ Authorité des services et marchés financiers. You will find a specific information note in relation to each project on the project detail page.

Crowdfunding law

In accordance with Article 30§1 of the Belgian Act of 18 December 2016 regulating the recognition and definition of crowdfunding, Lendahand, as a regulated investment firm under supervision of Dutch AFM, is authorised to provide alternative funding services in Belgium.

Impact+ is a private investing product for investors who want to invest amounts of € 25,000 or more in our projects. It offers investors the convenience of investing with impact without hassle. With Impact+, Lendahand will handle the investments for you, without additional costs. Visit the Impact + page for more information.

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The annual interest rate on investments varies from 2-8%, depending on the type of investment.

Everyone who invests via Lendahand has a personal account: My Lendahand. Repayments, including interest, are transferred to this account every six months. You can choose to reinvest your repayments or have them transferred to your bank account at no extra cost. Want to change your wallet settings? Go to Settings

Your investments are paid back in equal amounts on a semi-annual basis. For instance, an investment with a maturity of 12 months will be repaid in two parts. You’ll receive payments after 6 and 12 months, including interest. In the next example, we’ll show how principal and interest payments are calculated.

Suppose you invest € 1,000 in project A which is interest-bearing as of 1 January 2023. The loan has a maturity of 12 months and pays an annualized interest rate of 3%.

- On July 15th 2023, you will receive the first repayment of € 500 as well as an interest payment of 3% over € 1,000 for that 6 month period (€ 15). The total amount for thefirst period is € 515

- On Jan 15th 2024, you will receive the second repayment of € 500, as well as an interest payment of 3% over the outstanding notional of (€ 1,000 - € 500) for that 6 month period (€ 7.50). The total payment for the second period is € 507.50

Yes. The effective interest rates at Lendahand varies between 2-8% on an annual basis and are paid on the notional amount that is sent to the company. No interest is paid on amounts that have been repaid to the investor.

Anywhere from 6 to 48 months in 6 month intervals.

- In case of payments in arrear, a new payment schedule is drawn up (with or without other creditors) together with the investee. We also call this restructuring. In such situations, the interest that should be paid back in any month is in principle deposited into your wallet. For the notional amount, the following principle counts: the longest outstanding amounts will be repaid first. The new payment schedule will also be integrated into your My Lendahand environment. 

- When an investee indicates that it is no longer able to meet its payment obligation, all investors become competing creditors, and should there be any return of funds, these are distributed pro-rata among those investors. In your My Lendahand environment the concerning projects are placed under Written-off investments.

The risk level depends on the specific project. Local partners cover the risk of currency exchange rates and defaults on Local Partner investments. They do this by maintaining financial reserves for this purpose. Aside from that, there is an option to claim their equity if needed. While these measures are intended to minimize the risk to investors, our local partners face risks of their own that could affect their ability to secure your investment. These include - bankruptcy - currency exchange rates - fraud - operational risks - political and regulatory changes - natural disasters or epidemics.

With direct investments, risks of default are not covered. As the risks are higher, so are the interest rates.

There is also some operational risk at Lendahand. An example might be that Lendahand is unable to find shareholders to finance their activities. In such a case, Lendahand will handle outstanding investments at the best of its ability. At the same time, our ability to legally address non-payment from local partners becomes understandably difficult.

Every local partner must share our social mission to ensure local entrepreneurs can access affordable financing, allowing them to grow their business. Local partners must also have a 'track record'; they must have proven themselves as a reliable credit provider for SMEs.

For instance, this means a solid credit portfolio and enough buffers and equity to compensate for unexpected downturns. We also check the organizational structure of the portfolio company and how robust their (internal) procedures are. Finally, the investments must be in proportion to the total balance of that portfolio company. A healthy balance between effectuating influence and being independent is crucial. If you would like to receive more information on the financial indicators we employ, please contact us via info@lendahand.com.

When currency exchange risks become too high for a local partner, Lendahand will urge the local partner to cover these risks. In some scenarios, the local partner is contractually obliged to comply with these demands.

Lendahand always conducts due diligence when companies request funding. The results can be downloaded on the project detail page. However, this analysis is not investing advice.

Usually we don't. Local partners take care of the repayment, even if (some) entrepreneurs are unable to do so themselves. If the local partner is for some reason unable to repay then there is a chance of partial or full loss of your money. For this reason, Lendahand only selects financially solid partners based on strict criteria.

For most direct investments, there is no guarantee. However, currency risks are covered.

Sometimes, and only for some direct investments in Africa, our partner Sida, part of the Swedish government, will guarantee a maximum of 50%. Read here more about guarantees with Sida. Projects with Sida guarantees are indicated explicitly on the project page.

Yes. Lendahand is the first Dutch crowdfunding platform that received the new European Crowdfunding Service Provider license from the Dutch Authority for Financial Markets (AFM).

Since the rise of crowdfunding in the Netherlands in 2010, most Dutch crowdfunding platforms have been using a so-called exemption in order to perform crowdfunding activities. Now with the new mandatory ECSP license, the European Commission aims to increase the availability of this innovative form of finance across the EU and will no longer allow crowdfunding platforms to work with an exemption.

Since 2016 Lendahand also holds a license as investment firm (MiFID).

We adhere to strict safety requirements concerning private and payment details. All sensitive data is sent through an encrypted connection (https). Also, information is stored (encrypted) in a secured facility provided by AWS: the world’s largest hosting service. A secured connection and multi-factor authentication can only retrieve customer documents.

Our local partners and companies bear the exchange rate risks. We settle the investments, redemptions, and interest payments in euro.

If Hands-On BV (containing the brand name Lendahand) went bankrupt, trades between Lendahand and payment service provider Intersolve EGI would cease immediately. Intersolve will then transfer the funds in your wallet to your bank account (Note: if at this time the project you have invested in has been fully funded and the money has thus been transferred to the local partner, these funds will not be transferred back to your bank account). Intersolve will then, in consultation with a trustee, handle all repayments between the investors and entrepreneurs until the final repayment of the last project has taken place.

Since obtaining the new ECSP license in August 2022, Hands-on BV is not part anymore of the so called 'Beleggerscompensatiestelsel' (BCS).

• A Lendahand team member gives or receives a gift or favour, for example free entry to an event abroad

• A Lendahand team member has an interest in an investee (project owner)

• A Lendahand team member has an interest in a (crowd) investor

• An investor has an interest in an investee

• The interests of two or more investors conflict with each other

• The interests of Lendahand conflict with the interests of one or more investees

• The interest of Lendahand does not run parallel with the interest of the board/a director

Lendahand does not participate in a project on the platform itself and the following persons are not accepted as investee on our platform:

• Our shareholders who hold 20% or more of the share capital or voting rights;

• Our directors or employees;

• A natural or legal person who is linked to our shareholders, directors or employees by a control relationship.

Lendahand does allow the above-mentioned (individual) persons to invest in projects on the platform, but they may only invest on the same terms as those for other investors (being the crowd), and subject to conditions mentioned in the Lendahand Insider Transactions Procedure (investment is only possible after the new project has been open for the crowd for at least 24 hours and the compliance officer has to give his approval). Lendahand keeps (automated) records of which directors and employees have invested in which projects, and it is monitored quarterly whether the relevant investments comply with the applicable procedure.

Lendahand has taken measures to prevent (the occurrence of) a conflict of interest. The measures taken can be classified as follows:

• Policies and procedures (including Conflicts of Interest Procedure, Remuneration Policy, Gift Scheme, Insider Transactions, Ancillary Positions), which are updated on a regular basis;

• Training on the job and awareness;

• Information barriers (info is shared on a need-to-know basis);

• Segregation of duties and clear reporting lines;

• Remuneration policy and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs, including integrity);

• Inducements are not accepted. Inducements are: receiving a fee from a party other than the client for performing the service;

If, despite the measures taken, a conflict of interest materializes, the Conflicts of Interest Procedure is followed, to prevent the interests of both the investor and investee from being harmed.

Read more about the credit assessment (including credit scores) and pricing.

Credit assessment

We want to be the cheapest alternative for the companies that need funding. Providing mesocredits to entrepreneurs in often rural areas is a very labour intense process. It is comparable with the cost structure of microcredits. A huge number of loans with a relatively small size puts quite some administrative pressure on local partners. Also, these loans have to be monitored and obviously repayments have to be collected at the right time at the right place. Furthermore, partners have to pay local taxes and they have to take a provision at their balance sheet for possible non-repayments.

Since our SMEs do not have access to micro credits or bank loans, they often need to borrow from 'loan sharks' that may charge more than 100% interest per year. Even if they had access to micro credits, they would still be paying 30-50% annually. According to the New York Times (2010), the global average interest rate for microfinance loans is 37%.

On average, our SMEs pay around 1-3% interest per month. Lendahand will launch new propositions structurally for which the central theme is lowering the interest entrepreneurs have to pay.

Our local partners screen applicants thoroughly. The potential client must be or have:

Our local partners will never finance the following projects:

Small and medium sized enterprises, 2-100 employees, in the area of farming, retail, wholesale, production or services. Applicants should have a 'moral compass' and have to prove they want the best for the enterprise, people, the community and the environment.

Choose a project

Our local partners are so-called NBFI's, Non-Bank Financial Institutions. These are financial entities without a banking license that provides financial services while under regional or national supervisory institutions’ supervision.

Every local partner must share our social mission to ensure local entrepreneurs can access affordable financing, allowing them to grow their business. A local partner must also have a 'track record'; they must have proven themselves as a reliable credit provider for SMEs. For instance, this means a solid credit portfolio and enough buffers and equity to compensate for unexpected downturns. We also check the organizational structure of the company and how robust their (internal) procedures are. Finally, the investments must be in proportion to the total balance of that company. A healthy balance between effectuating influence and being independent is crucial. If you would like to receive more information on the financial indicators we employ, please contact us via info@lendahand.com.

One of the essential criteria Lendahand has regarding local partners is that they must have a social mission. If commercial gains are prioritized at the expense of social impact, an institution will not be considered for a partnership with Lendahand.

Yes. Even though research on our investments’ impact is very time consuming and expensive, our local partners execute impact studies where they can. We also ask our partners to give an estimate of the expected effects when uploading a new request.

Yes. We believe this is important because many small companies need the money on short notice. For example when the company receives a large order and needs to hire more people. Lendahand has a 100% funding rate, however it is possible that a project has been pre-funded by the local partner but does not get fully funded on the Lendahand website. In that case, the local partner will use alternative sources of funding for that specific project.

Our mission is to fight poverty in emerging markets by investing in people and businesses. Our projects create new jobs in developing countries and enable families to gain access to basic needs.

Lendahand has a payment policy based on the Dutch Law remuneration policies of financial undertakings. The policy applies to all employees of Lendahand and is aimed at ensuring that employees rewards do not pose any undesirable risks and/or behaviour to the sustainability of Lendahand.

Remuneration Lendahand pays all employees a fixed monthly income, which is not dependent on targets. Employees do obtain options. The management of Lendahand earns an average income of EUR 65,000 gross per year (2021).
We do not work with guaranteed variable remuneration

The decision on remuneration policy

The remuneration policy is drawn up by the management. Because Lendahand is a relatively small enterprise a remuneration committee will not be set up. However, the remuneration policy is aligned with the Supervisory Board annually.

Adjusting policy

Lendahand creates new jobs in emerging markets and enables people to improve their access to basic needs. This way, we contribute to the UN’s following Sustainable Development Goals:

1 no poverty

2 zero hunger

6 clean water and sanitation

7 affordable and clean energy

8 decent work and economic growth

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by all United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.

Mexico, Indonesia, Kenya, India, Mongolia, Kirgizie, Moldavia, Peru, to name a few. Every year we add more countries to our portfolio, see our partner page.

View partners

Lendahand is the only crowdfunding platform where you can invest in SMEs in upcoming economies and sustainable initiatives at an interest rate between 2-7% per year.

Our borrowers (issuers) pay an average interest rate of 7,8% per year to Lendahand. Consequently we pay on average 4,25% interest to our funders. Our gross margin is around 3% (and maximized at 4%).

Possible debt instruments officially termed “Notes” are issued to the crowd (also called investors) when they want to invest via Lendahand. These notes are similar to bonds but cannot be resold.

The provider of the debt instruments to the public is called an ‘issuer.’ At Lendahand, these are either the financial institutions that finance the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in emerging countries, or entrepreneurs that raise capital on our platform themselves. Issuers only access the Lendahand website for projects when they comply with the admission requirement and quality standards beforehand. This includes the acceptance of the conditions for using the platform.

The crowd can select one or more projects (propositions) that he/she can finance by purchasing notes (or similar instruments) worth €50 each. Once the payment of the investor is successful, the purchase agreement is established. This agreement is entered under the condition precedent that the project (the proposition) will meet enough registrations. Investors accept the Terms and Conditions in which the purchase agreement takes part. Once the proposal is fully funded, the condition precedent is completed, and the notes are issued to the investors who have registered to the respective proposition. There are no exemption rights with regards to investments in requests. All investments are done via the website and are handled automatically and in order of entry.

Download the complaint form.

Complaint form

In case of a personal account:

You need to upload a clear picture of your passport, EU ID card, or EU driver’s license, which holds all personal information, as well as your citizen service number.

Please upload a JPG or JPEG, not a PDF. If you choose to upload a scan of your ID with your smartphone, make sure your scan does not have any glares. Also, we ask you to upload a picture of yourself or take a selfie with your smartphone.

In case of a Business account we also ask for

Most of our local partners hedge currency fluctuations against their local currency (in which they generate revenues and pay their expenses). Typically, Lendahand also agrees with the local partner the maximum amount of unhedged loans. With the USD loans, some companies will no longer have to hedge, as their local currencies are pegged to the US Dollar. This means they do not fluctuate against the USD (whereas they do fluctuate against the euro). iBanFirst could technically hedge the EUR-USD exchange rate up to two years, but this is something we currently do not offer.

The fluctuation risk between dollar and euro is easier to oversee and estimate than the risk between the euro and the local currency of an emerging market. The interest rate differential between euro and dollar is typically more limited too. The operational costs to hedge the euro/dollar risk are significant. In contrast, the risk over the maturity (maximum of 3 years) of a dollar project on the platform is manageable and limited. Therefore, we think it is a responsible choice not to hedge that risk and an investor can decide for themselves if he/she is willing to take the euro/dollar risk.

In the case of unknown and volatile emerging market currencies, we find that it would be irresponsible to leave the currency exchange risk to the investor. Therefore, we offer entrepreneurs the choice between financing in EUR, USD, or their local currency. If the entrepreneur chooses local currency funding, we hedge the currency exchange risk with TCX.

Just like with EUR and/or USD investments on our platform, as an investor, you risk losing your deposit when an entrepreneur defaults. The intervention of TCX and KfW, the German development bank, does not minimize or eliminate this risk.

TCX hedges the exchange rate risk on the local currency projects to make sure potential fluctuations and depreciation in the entrepreneur’s local currency against the euro don;t result in losses for the investor or the entrepreneur. KfW minimizes the risk TCX takes by guaranteeing potential credit losses on the currency exchange in case an entrepreneur defaults. In case of a default the KfW will pay the credit loss on the currency exchange to TCX. To make this possible, KfW is financially supported by the German Ministry of Environment, BMU.

There are certain cases in which TCX has the right to end the currency hedge contract for a specific local currency loan. For example, in case:

• a payment due from Lendahand FX (LHFX) to TCX under the currency hedge contract, due to non-payment by the entrepreneur, cannot be paid by LHFX for more than 180 days, and the loan and currency hedge contract are not restructured within that period to eliminate the late payment.
• LHFX and/or Hands-on BV fails to comply with certain information requirements, particularly regarding the timing and amount of payments received from the entrepreneur.
• LHFX and/or Hands-on BV changes owners, and TCX, for whatever reason, does not want to continue the contract with the new owner.
• LHFX and/or Hands-on BV loses its relevant licenses and/or otherwise seriously fails in its obligations to regulators (AFM and DNB).
• TCX is no longer considered solvent based on the agreements made with TCX's shareholders, including the Dutch government, and must be liquidated in which case all of TCX's outstanding contracts will be settled.

If TCX terminates the currency hedge contract for any of these reasons, Lendahand converts the outstanding loan into a euro loan. From that moment on, the entrepreneur runs a currency risk, which indirectly leads to greater credit risk for you as an investor. This conversion takes place at the exchange rate at that time. Exchange rate fluctuations that affected the outstanding loan are thus made permanent. When the entrepreneur repays the euro loan, a settlement still takes place with TCX so that you as an investor receive exactly your deposit and the agreed interest.

As an investor on a local currency loan, just as with a euro loan or dollar loan, you basically run the entrepreneur's entire credit risk. If the entrepreneur cannot pay the interest and/or repayment owed by him, the investor will not receive the expected interest and/or repayment either. However, this credit risk is in principle lower than with a euro loan or dollar loan. Since the entrepreneur is not exposed to exchange rate risk on loan, there is less risk of not being able to repay the loan because of a drop in the local currency's value.

Investing in a local currency loan does not expose you to direct currency risk; you get the euros you invest paid back in euros, with the corresponding interest in euros, as long as the entrepreneur pays back his loan.

Suppose, however, that TCX terminates the currency hedge contract between the Lendahand FX Foundation and TCX for valid reasons. In that case, the outstanding amount of the loan will be converted into a euro loan at the exchange rate at that time. The entrepreneur will then be exposed to currency risk on the euro loan from that moment on, and in principle, that means more credit risk for the investor.

The currency hedge contract with TCX covers the currency risk for the entrepreneur and investor; therefore, if TCX cannot meet its obligations under that contract, it could result in a loss for you as an investor.