MiCredito

MiCrédito Nicaragua is a non-deposit-taking Microfinance Institution (“MFI”) that serves customers at the bottom of the pyramid in Nicaragua. The current management team together with the largest shareholder in MiCrédito Panama (Mennonite Economic Development Associates or “MEDA”) have been involved in micro-lending in Nicaragua since 1990 when they established Fundación CHISPA, one of the most successful programs in micro-lending in Nicaragua. In 2000, CHISPA partnered with other investors to establish the first regulated MFI in the country (“CONFIA”) which grew to a 10-branch network with 70 staff members.

In 2004, MEDA felt that it still had a role to play to promote financial inclusion in Nicaragua, particularly by providing improved levels of service and by targeting the underserved rural markets. That is the moment that, together with some of the key staff that participated in the original CHISPA, MiCrédito Nicaragua was created as a NGO. MiCrédito management dedicated over eight years to building institutional. In 2013 MiCrédito was approved by Nicaragua's new microfinance regulating body National Comission of Microfinance in Nicaragua (“CONAMI”).

MiCrédito has 12 branches. The agents at the branches use a traditional personal approach, going door to door, visiting rural communities by motorcycle. MC also has an active digitization strategy, which has paid of during the COVID-19 crisis. Apart from a few remaining regulatory requirements in the KYC area, the company has entirely digitized its processes.