SOFIPA 8
A group loan from Sofipa gives Juana the chance to buy enough materials for her pottery. This helps her support her family and provides them with a better life. Thanks to your investment in Sofipa, 480 female entrepreneurs like Juana will receive the financial support they need.
€150,000
7.00%
18 mjeseci
6 mjeseci
USD
ValutaIznos | €150,000 |
Kamata | 7.00% |
Dospiće | 18 mjeseci |
Otplata | 6 mjeseci |
Valuta | USD |
Projekt
Juana lives in the heart of Oaxaca and has been making beautiful handmade pottery since she was young. She creates items like bowls, dishes, rice cookers, pots, and jugs. "Everything is handmade," Juana says proudly. "Many people visit us and take my work to other countries and cities like Mexico City. This is how we shape our daily life and make a living."
The production process is labor-intensive: two types of clay are mixed, shaped, fired, colored, and fired again to achieve the final green color. Juana uses a group loan from Sofipa to buy materials like clay and firewood. "This loan helps me a lot," says Juana. "I can buy everything I need to keep working." The group loan provides Juana with financial support and a close-knit community of women who support each other.
Thanks to the group loan, Juana, along with her brother and sister, can live off the sales of her handmade pottery and build a better future. By investing in Sofipa, you support 480 female entrepreneurs in Mexico to achieve their dreams.
What social return could your investment generate?
Financing is crucial in southeastern Mexico, where Sofipa operates. Historically, this region has faced the greatest challenges. The state of Oaxaca has alarming poverty rates due to a lack of education, infrastructure, and basic services, which hinders development. The lives of women in this area are even more challenging, exacerbating their disadvantages. A loan makes women more independent, creating equal opportunities and empowering them.
With your investment in this Sofipa project, you enable around 480 women to receive a group loan. The loans run on a cycle of 16 weeks (4 months), and with each cycle, the women build a credit history that can help them apply for formal bank loans later on. For a first loan, a group member can borrow up to 7,000 Mexican pesos (340 euros) without collateral. The women guarantee each other, creating a strong social support structure.
What financial return could your investment generate?
- Annual interest rate of 7%
- The maturity of the loan is 18 months
- Grace period: This project has a grace period. After 12 months, you will receive your first repayment of your investment, and thereafter, you will receive a repayment every 6 months.
- With an investment of 1,000 euros, your expected total repayment would be 1,088 euros
- Please consider that although you invest in EUR, the loan is in USD, so there is a risk of exchange rate fluctuations between dollars and euros. For more information on potential exchange rate risks, please visit our currency page.
The story of Sofipa
Financial inclusion is one of the problems the region of Oaxaca in Mexico is facing. The scarce offer of financial services specialized in reaching low-income citizens inspired the emergence of Sofipa in February 2004. With its existence, Sofipa contributes to financial inclusion and the region's overall development.
Sofipa started operating under the legal figure of the Cooperative Society. However, in search of being more competitive and innovative, in 2016, they decided to adopt the legal formation of an Investment Promotion Company, SOFOM, ENR. Read more about Sofipa on their company profile page. Since then, it has enabled at least 10.000 women to expand their businesses and improve the lives of their families.
Sofipa in numbers
- Founded in 2004
- 467 employees
- Loan portfolio of €13,968,857 (end of 2022), for female group loans
- Approximately 10.000 credits to women a year
Naziv tvrtke | SOFIPA |
Izvršni direktor | Francisco Diaz |
Osnovan | 2004-02-01 |
Lokacija | San Antonio de la Cal |
Sektor | Financijske usluge |
Promet | $9,100,000 |
Zaposlenici | 467 |
Kreditni rejting | A+ |
Utjecaj
97% of Sofipa’s clients are female entrepreneurs. Mainly active in the informal sector, the most significant need of these women is access to the financial system.
The goal of the Mexican microfinance institution is to end poverty by giving people growth opportunities and fight for gender equality by helping women to improve their income. They have been able to support more than 14,500 women so far.
Sofipa offers female entrepreneurs credit through group loans. Read more about how group loans work in the introduction blog post of Sofipa here.
Sofipa has a presence in 7 of the 32 states and is particularly active in two states with the highest poverty rates in Mexico, Guerrero with 38.41%, and Oaxaca with 33.49% of the national level.
A study, conducted by 60 decibels, shows the following results of impact and customer satisfaction among Sofipa clients:
· 1.2 Inclusion Index (view here)
· 71% think that Sofipa is a good financing alternative
· 83% intend to use the loan to grow their existing businesses
Research shows that women in emerging markets invest 90 cents of each extra dollar they earn in their families and immediate environments. This translates into better schooling, healthcare, overall lifestyle, and eventually, economic growth.
Providing female entrepreneurs with suitable financing options helps them overcome those barriers that keep them from starting or growing their businesses. Specific loan features that appeal to the typical female SME owner are longer-term loans, lower interest rates, alternative collateral, and repayment grace periods.
SDGs impacted
With this project, you are contributing to the following Sustainable Development Goals:
SDG 1 - No poverty
SDG 5 - Gender equality
SDG 8 - Decent work and economic growth
SDG 10 - Reduced inequalities
Read more about the impact you can make through our platform and the SDGs on our impact page.
Related blog articles
- Get to know 3 female entrepreneurs who benefit from a loan through Sofipa.
- Female entrepreneurs are essential for a powerful economy. Read why here.
- Want to learn more about gender lens investing? Click here.
- Want to learn more about how financial inclusion can thrive entrepreneurship? Read here.
- Ovim ulaganjem poboljšava se život 480 osoba