發展中國家小額信貸計畫之可行性分析：以厄瓜多為例 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學商學院國際經營管理英語碩士學位學程 International MBA Program College of Commerce National Chengchi University. 碩士論文政治. 大. 立Master’s Thesis. ‧. ‧ 國. 學以厄瓜多為例. er. io. sit. y. Nat. 發展中國家小額信貸計畫之可行性分析： a. n. v l C of Microfinance Feasibility Analysis n i Project in hengchi U. Developing Country: The Case of Ecuador. Student: Doris M. Calle L. Advisor: Professor Weiyu George Kuo. 中華民國104年3月 March 2015.

(2) 發展中國家小額信貸計畫之可行性分析：以厄瓜多為例 Feasibility Analysis of Microfinance Project in Developing Country: The Case of Ecuador. 研究生：藍多麗. Student: Doris M. Calle L.. 指導教授：郭維裕. 政治大國立政治大學. 學. ‧ 國. 立. Advisor: Weiyu George Kuo. 商學院國際經營管理英語碩士學位學程. ‧. 碩士論文. y. Nat. io. sit. A Thesis. er. Submitted to International MBA Program. n. a. v. l C Chengchi University National ni. i U. h. e n gofcthe h Requirements in partial fulfillment for the degree of Master in Business Administration. 中華民國104年3月 March 2015.

(3) Acknowledgements I would like to thank God for his blessings over my life and for this incredible experience, the International Master Business Administration at National Chengchi University.. I would also like to thank my family; and specially dedicate this achievement to my beloved Andrés Tafur.. 治政 Moreover, I would like to thank the IMBA Program and大 the Taiwan International Cooperation 立 & Development Fund (ICDF) for selecting me as a scholar to study this program. A special thanks to Professor George Kuo for being my advisor and guidance in this work.. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i. i n U. v.

(4) Abstract Feasibility Analysis of Microfinance Project in Developing Country: The Case of Ecuador By Doris Marcela Calle Landázuri. Poverty is one of the major problems around the world and it is also the cause of many others.. 治政 The 2006 Nobel Prize laureate Mohammed Yunus, started 大 in the 1980s the microfinance 立 revolution. He created the Grameen Bank and the social business concept which is a ‧ 國. 學. combined and organized effort of poverty alleviation through a self sustaining business. ‧. mechanism.. Nat. sit. y. This thesis seeks to first understand Yunus’s microfinance model, to evaluate the microfinance. n. al. er. io. industry in Ecuador, second, to identify what part of the population is excluded from this. i n U. v. financial tool and finally to create a workable microcredit model adapted to the Ecuadorian situation.. Ch. engchi. This model is mostly based on the Grameen Bank strategies, other countries. experiences and innovative ideas taking into account the Ecuadorean reality.. Due to the. sociopolitical situation in Ecuador, a key factor of success is the alliance with the government and the economic support from international agencies.. Delivering microcredit services. presents several challenges; therefore many efforts are needed to its implementation. However the results can be very encouraging, improving gradually the life of approximately a third of the Ecuadorian population who lives on less than USD 2.7 a day.. Keywords: Poverty, microfinance, microcredit, Grameen Bank.. ii.

(5) Table of Content 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Motivation and Importance .......................................................................................... 1 1.2. Purposes and Methodology .......................................................................................... 2 2. Background and Literature Review ................................................................................... 3. 治政 2.1. Microfinance and Poverty .......................................................................................... 3 大立 ‧ 國. 學. 2.2. The Grameen Bank – The Banker to the Poor .............................................................. 5 2.2.1. The Philosophy of the Grameen Bank ................................................................. 7. ‧. 2.2.2. The Structure and Operations of the Grameen Bank ............................................ 8. sit. y. Nat. io. n. al. er. 2.2.3. Other Grameen Organizations ........................................................................... 11. v. 2.2.4. Replications of the Grameen Model .................................................................. 13. Ch. engchi. i n U. 3. Microcredit in Ecuador ...................................................................................................... 21 3.1. Poverty and Microcredit in Ecuador ........................................................................... 21 3.1.1. Economic and Socio-Politic Situation ............................................................... 21 3.1.2. Microfinance in Ecuador................................................................................... 23 3.1.3. Legal Framework in Ecuador ............................................................................ 24 3.2. Current Structure of Microcredit in Ecuador .............................................................. 27 3.3. Grameen Replica in Ecuador ..................................................................................... 29 iii.

(6) 3.4. Feasibility Analysis of Microfinance Models in Ecuador ........................................... 32 4. Proposed Microfinance Model for Ecuador ..................................................................... 38 4.1. Legal Constitution ..................................................................................................... 38 4.2. Commercial management .......................................................................................... 39 4.2.1. Competition ...................................................................................................... 39. 政治大. 4.2.2. Segmentation .................................................................................................... 40. 立. 4.2.3. Product and Service .......................................................................................... 41. ‧ 國. 學. 4.2.4. Strategic Partners .............................................................................................. 45. ‧. 4.3. Operational Activities ................................................................................................ 47. sit. y. Nat. 4.3.1. Staff.................................................................................................................. 47. n. al. er. io. 4.3.2. Infrastructure .................................................................................................... 48. Ch. i n U. v. 4.3.3. Technology ....................................................................................................... 49. engchi. 4.4. Financial Structure..................................................................................................... 49 4.4.1. Projected Income Statement .............................................................................. 51 4.4.2. Projected Cash Flow ......................................................................................... 54 4.4.3. Projected Balance Sheet .................................................................................... 55 4.4.4. Long-Term Plan ............................................................................................... 56 5. Conclusions and Recommendations ................................................................................. 58. iv.

(7) 6. Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 60. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. v. i n U. v.

(8) List of Tables Table 1.. Grameen Bank Historical Data Series 1976-2011 ................................................... 6. Table 2.. Grameen Bank´s Sixteen Decisions ..................................................................... 11. Table 3.. Grameen Trust Direct Implementation Projects .................................................. 144. Table 4.. Grameen Trust Partner Organizations................................................................... 15. Table 5.. Ecuador basic profile ........................................................................................... 21. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Table 6. Poverty in Ecuador (2014) ................................................................................... 22. ‧. Microfinance most relevant Ecuadorian Regulations ............................................ 26. Table 8.. Financial Rural Network Information................................................................... 27. Table 9.. The Foundation for Cultural and Educational Development Network ................... 31. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Table 7.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Table 10.. Financial Assumptions ....................................................................................... 50. Table 11.. Projected Scenarios in each Year ........................................................................ 51. Table 12. Projected Agencies and Labor ............................................................................ 53. Table 13. Projected Income Statement ............................................................................. 544. Table 14. Projected Cash Flow ........................................................................................ 555. vi.

(9) Table 15. Projected Balance Sheet ................................................................................... 566. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. vii. i n U. v.

(10) List of Figures Figure 1.. Microfinance Interest Rates in Ecuador .............................................................. 43. Figure 2.. Staff and Agencies in Ecuador ............................................................................ 48. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. viii. i n U. v.

(11) 1. Introduction 1.1. Motivation and Importance There are 1.2 billion people in the world living below the poverty line.. In particular, 41 per. cent of the worldwide population lives below the poverty line defined as USD 2 a day, while 21 per cent live below the extreme poverty line defined as USD 1.25 a day.. (World Bank’s. Poverty Head Count Analysis, 2014) 1 Poverty is caused by complex problems; lack of. 政治大. education, unemployment, finance marginalized, insufficient resources and others that. 立. consequently generate unequal opportunities between inhabitants and also lead to malnutrition,. ‧ 國. 學. mortality, ignorance and others.. ‧. Combating poverty is a global issue and not an easy task anywhere in the world. Latin. Although Ecuador is an oil-producing nation,. er. io. sit. Nat. per cent of its 15.8 million inhabitants.2. y. America and the Caribbean face a 10 per cent of extreme poverty, while Ecuador’s faces a 30. around 5 million people live in poverty; 3.6 million people live with USD 2.7 a day, and 1.3. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. million people live with USD 1.53 a day. (Central Bank of Ecuador, 2014)3. engchi. Schiller (2004) points out that people with the least education will end up in poverty.. In a. developing country where a third of its population is not able to cover their basic needs as clothing or shelter or water or food, it is very difficult for them to be aware of the real importance of education. According to Muhammad Yunus (1999), the laureate of Nobel Peace Prize, poverty is caused by a misunderstanding of human capabilities and by the failure to 1PovcalNet:. the on-line tool for poverty measurement developed by the Development Research Group of the World Bank' and provide the URL to PovcalNet. 2Retrieved from: http://www.indexmundi.com/map/?v=69 3Retrieved from : http://contenido.bce.fin.ec/documentos/Estadisticas/SectorReal 1.

(12) enable all theoretical frameworks to support those capabilities.. 1.2. Purposes and Methodology This thesis studies the current situation of Microcredit in Ecuador and proposes a structured way to help the most needed people to improve not only their own lives, but also their family conditions. This structured way is an adapted model based on Yunus´ strategies. The outcome of this thesis, a dynamic model, could be applied by different institutions in the public sector.. 政治大 The thesis is organized into four chapters. The first chapter gives a literature review of the 立. ‧ 國. It contains a summary of the book. 學. relationship between microfinance models and poverty.. “Banker to the Poor” about the Grameen Bank, written by Yunus (1999), which “has reversed. ‧. the conventional banking wisdom by removing collateral requirement and created a banking. sit. y. Nat. system which is based on mutual trust, strict supervision, accountability, participation and. io. er. creativity”4. Thus, there is a recompilation of some replicas of the Grameen model in some. al. developing and other developed countries. The second chapter is a diagnostic analysis of the. n. v i n CEcuador, current situation of microcredit in the replicas of the Grameen model that h e n gincluding chi U up to now have been applied in the country and some first conclusions about the feasibility of this model in Ecuador or what is needed to adapt. The third chapter attempts to develop, based on the Grameen model, a profit seeking model, whose implementation may have a strong impact on the poorest of Ecuador. The last chapter offers the conclusions and key contributions of the thesis. It also highlights some next steps for this initial plan.. 4. Retrieved from: http://www.unesco.org/education/poverty/grameen.shtml 2.

(13) 2. Background and Literature Review 2.1. Microfinance and Poverty There are many definitions and interpretations about microfinance, microcredit, microloans and their differences.. For years microfinance has been understood as a helpful instrument. for poverty reduction (Long, 2009). People usually perceive it as an ideal solution to the economic problems only for developing countries (Nyassi, 2009).. For others microfinance. 政治大. is a provision of financial services to low-income poor and very poor self-employment people. 立. (Otero, 1999). It attempts to improve access to small deposits and small loans for poor. ‧ 國. 學. households neglected by banks (Schreiner and Colombet, 2001), but it is also the provision of other financial services such as saving, insurance, pensions and payment services. (Dichter,. ‧. 1999) (Sinha, 1998) (Okiocredit, 2005) (Ledger, 1999).. y. Nat. er. io. sit. A good definition of microfinance is suggested by Robinson (2001): “Microfinance refers to small-scale financial services; primarily credit and savings provided to people who operate. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. small and micro enterprises where goods are produced, recycled, repaired, or sold and who. engchi. provide services to other individuals and groups at the local levels of developing countries, both rural and urban.” Microcredit or microloan appeared in 18th and 19th century in Irland (Hollis and Sweetman, 2001) and its main use was for practices that involved or originated in the agriculture sector (Lützenkirchen, 1998). For some authors microcredit refers to provide credit to the poor with small loans, and it is a component of microfinance (Sinha, 1998) (Joanna Ledger, 1999) (Dichter, 1999). For other authors, microcredit generally includes savings and credits but can also include other financial services such as insurance and payment services (Ledgerwood, 3.

(14) 1999). Gert-van (2004) argues that microcredit and microfinance are actually the same. It is mainly banking the unbankables, bringing credit, savings and other essential financial services within the reach of millions of people who are too poor to be served by regular banks, in most cases because they are unable to offer sufficient collateral.. In general some authors believe that microfinance and microcredit are the same, or at least, in so many aspects. Others believe that microfinance is different from microcredit because. 政治大 microcredit) works with microfinance institutions and agencies. 立. microfinance has a wider concept than microcredit. The microfinance field (including. ‧ 國. 學. Microfinance institutions (MIFs) are part of the formal financial industry. They are subject to banking regulations and supervisions by the government. When these institutions identify the. ‧. opportunity to serve small business, they move into the microfinance sector. But there are. y. Nat. sit. other informal financial intermediaries which operate outside the structure of the government. al. n. (Ledgerwood, 1999).. er. io. regulation. Those could be NGOs, social communities and common interests groups (religious). Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Microfinance agencies are donors who directed resources to the creation of subsidized microcredit programs (Woller, 2001). The most popular agencies include The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United Nations (UN), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the World Bank.. The evolution of microfinance has generated some confusion in its applications. This thesis focuses its analysis on microcredit as the act of providing small loans to the poorest of the poor (people who live under the poverty line), who are ignored by commercial banks and do not possess a stable source of income or live in deplorable conditions. 4.

(15) 2.2. The Grameen Bank – The Banker to the Poor The information in this section is taken from the book, Banker to the Poor: Micro-lending and the Battle against World Poverty, where Muhammad Yunus explains how a small loan can change the life of many women from the poor Bangladesh into a philosophy that has expanded and been adapted around the world.. In 1976, Muhammad Yunus began visiting the poorest households in Jobra to see if he could help them in any way.. 政治大. He started to promote the bank for the poor as an action of his. 立. research project. In January 1977 the Grameen Bank started.. In this first stage, he acted as. ‧ 國. 學. a guarantor and succeeded in taking out a loan from the Janata Bank and giving it to the poor of Jobra. In October 1977, Yunus went to the Bangladesh Krishi Agriculture Bank, looking. ‧. for support to the Grameen Bank.. In 1978 the Krishi created the Grameen branch, “The. Nat. sit. y. Experimental Grameen Branch of the Agriculture Bank,” and Yunus no longer needed to. er. io. guarantee each loan personally.. al. n. v i n Ch number of Grameen membership e n g c h i U had. By November 1982 the. borrowers, half men, half women (See Table 1).. grown to around 28.000. In late September 1983 the bank became a. bank in full operation, under the name of Grameen Bank, in Bangladesh.. The Grameen. Bank gives credit to poor people without collateral, but charges an interest of 20 per cent on principal amounts (5 per cent more than a regular bank in Bangladesh by that time) in order to meet the costs of its operation. This bank also provides its borrowers with social developmental strategies and ideas in order to improve their living standards. In a later stage, the bank provided help with building schools and hiring teachers to educate the borrowers and also their families. It also helped the borrowers with family planning, nutrition, health care, 5.

(16) etc. The return rate of Grameen Bank loans on schedule remained consistently above 98 per cent, showing that poor people can be conscientious banking clients if they had not had all the unachievable requirements. Table 1. Grameen Bank Historical Data Series 1976-2011 1976. 1980. 1982. 1983. 1990. 1999. 2010. 0.001. 1.31. 9.63. 194.95. 21.83. 248.08. 2,792.00. 10,124.64. 0.001. 1.10. 4.17. 99.34. 12.20. 68.73. 320.39. 1,382.78. 0.0003. 0.83. 3.03. 72.07. 7.10. 38.60. 216.38. 943.81. -. -. -. -. 0.14. 224.60. 4.54. 1.26. -. 0.10. 0.78. 18.51. 317 1.54. 91,157 25.86. 511,583 122.52. 687,331 1,484.28. -. 0.10. 0.78. 18.51. 1.54. 112.54. 800.48. 100. 100. 100. 100. 2,935 14,830. 6,243 30,416. 11,667 58,320. 24,211 121,114. 20. 31. 39. 46. 56. 1 1 -. 363 24 0. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. 92. 54. 173,907 869,538. 494,044 2,357,083. 1,284,606 8,340,623. 91. 95. 97. 39,706 1,149 1.57. 81,376 2,565 10.76. 19,536 781 0.0027. sit. 2,268 152 0.0068. 64. er. io. 10. 745 1,249 54 86 0 -0.0059. 16.51. y. -. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 立. Nat. Notes of Table 1:. 1984. 學. Performance Indicator Cumulative Disbursement (All Loans) Disbursement During the Year (All Loans) Year-end Outstanding Amount Housing Loan Disbursement During the Year Number of Houses Built cum Total Deposits (Balance) Deposits of GB Members (Balance) GB Members' Deposit as % of Total Deposit Number of Groups Number of Members Percentage of Female Members Number of Villages covered Number of Branches Profit/Loss (For the Year). v. 1) In US$ millions 2) 1976 figures show the loans given through Janata Bank. 3) Grameen Bank became operational as an independent on October 2, 1983. 4) Housing Loan Programme started from 1984.. Source: Grameen Bank (http://www.grameen.com). Muhammad Yunus argued that poor people should have been trusted. The Grameen worked in. 6.

(17) a group system, where some member encourages other group members to make their payments on time and also encourages each other to use the money productively. Each group has five members that are not allowed to be related by blood or marriage. The condition is that if one of the members could not pay, then all the members of that particular group lose their credit privileges, meaning that they are not able to receive more loans.. 2.2.1. The Philosophy of the Grameen Bank. 政治大. Muhammad Yunus believes that poverty reduction is a task that should take place not only in. 立. the macro level but also and most important in the micro level.. From his point of view,. ‧ 國. 學. poverty is caused by a misunderstanding of human capabilities and by the failure to enable all theoretical frameworks to support those capabilities.. ‧ sit. y. Nat. After his trips and experiences, Yunus observes that around the world there are a lot of. io. er. hard-working people that are poor and sentenced to a life full of misery because they do not. al. have access to small amounts of capital that could help them to cover, at least, their basic. n. v i n Ch People possess creativity, ingenuity and specially e n g c h i U the poor people who had created. needs.. survival skills; consequently all individuals have the ability to be entrepreneurs. The book establishes that poor people do not necessarily need to receive sophisticated education or particular finance training. Borrowers need only basic knowledge about how to manage a small business and generate profit, despite what kind of idea or business they are involved in. One aspect that the Grameen Bank value the most is transparency. operations of the Grameen Bank run in a fully translucent manner.. In particular, the All the transactions. should have taken place in front of all the borrowers and staff members; in that way they avoid corruption or any illegal dealing. 7.

(18) The last belief of Yunus’ ideology is that the bank and the system must operate exclusively for the extremely poor people because if the poor are combined in the same program as the non-poor, then the non-poor will always “drive out” the poor.. 2.2.2. The Structure and Operations of the Grameen Bank The Grameen Bank is considered as a profit seeking institution, not a profit maximizing one. This bank desires to be self-sustainable related only with social causes. For a better. 政治大. understanding of its functionality, this study categorizes the information related to the. 立. operation into different areas:. ‧ 國. 學. 2.2.2.1 Infrastructure. ‧. Grameen Bank branches have a very small house, building, or room with personnel that are. y. Nat. er. io. al. sit. trained to go and look for Grameen clients.. n. 2.2.2.2 Staff and Operations. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. The staff takes the credit to the borrower’s doorsteps. From the beginning the staff is trained to go out, recruit and guide borrowers.. 2.2.2.3 Purpose of the Loans The Grameen provides loans only to poor people for productive activities.. 2.2.2.4 Non-traditional Collateral The bank is based on social collateral. After the first contact between the staffs and the. 8.

(19) potential borrowers, they ask the borrower to find four more people in order to create a group of five co-borrowers.. If one of them does not comply with the loan payments on time, then. no other member could receive a loan until they have solved the problem.. These small. groups of five people belong to larger groups, known as centers. The center is formed by eight groups, and they meet once a week to follow and deal with all the affairs related to the Grameen Bank.. During these meetings the staffs collect the dues from the borrowers and, if. they need, help with any problems that they had during the week.. 立. 2.2.2.5 Loan Terms. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Loans are given in one year period with weekly payments. According to Yunus, small loans in one year period provide a better source of capital for poor people because if they receive a. ‧. large amount of money they will be more likely to default or even run away.. This. Nat. sit. n. al. er. The weekly payments are created because it is easier to the borrowers to handle and. io. loan.. y. experience is new for borrowers; it is the first time in borrowers’ life that they are able to get a. i n U. v. also to generate a disciplined routine in them. Although the regular payments are weekly, only. Ch. engchi. the first payment is due two weeks after the borrowers have received their first loans for help them to adapt to the process.. The staff has to make sure that each project could provide. immediate profit (no more than one week), in that way the possibility for borrowers to meet the requirements are achievable.. 2.2.2.6 Create the Culture of Saving The bank asks their members to accept and generate a mandatory saving in one week. This is to encourage borrowers to build a savings culture so they could use it during hard times, and also that could be used to get an additional income. 9. Moreover, each member has to provide.

(20) 25 per cent of their interest payment to create a fund which would help any emergency fund for the group.. This fund also provides insurance to coverage cases of malnutrition; pay for. medical treatments, or to help a business that has suffered from any natural disasters, and other cases. 2.2.2.7 Banks’ Ideology The bank used to have annual workshops to review their problems and achievements, to. 政治大. identify any area of concern, and to look for solutions to social and economic challenges.. 立. the end of one national workshop they make four decisions.. At. Few years later after another. ‧ 國. 學. national workshop they have ten decisions and are increased to sixteen. These decisions are for instance, discipline, unity, courage, hard-work, keep their families small, keep the children. ‧. in a clean environment, not practice child marriage, not commit any injustice, or take part in. y. Nat. er. io. al. sit. social activities collectively. (See Table 2). n. 2.2.2.8 Performance and Sustainability. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. According to the Grameen Bank historical data, it is impressive how the bank has grown from 1976 to 2011. The information is available in RBT and USD; this study is going to use only USD for a better understanding.. There are many indicators that show that, even it is not a. simple model, it is sustainable and profitable. Among these indicators, some of the most important are the disbursement during the year which went from less than USD 1 million in 1976; USD 99 million in 1983; USD 320 million in 1999, and finally USD 1,382 million in 2010. It means that the borrowers increased as well, from 10 million in 1976; 58,320 million in 1983; more than 2 billion in 1999, and 8.3 billion in 2010. The profit/losses per year went to USD -5,900 in 1983 (when the bank got autonomy); USD 1.57 million in 1999; and USD 10.

(21) 10.76 millions in 2010. (See Table 1). At the end of the first loan, borrowers are allowed to get a new loan meeting the same requirements but now with more experience. On the other hand, if borrowers want to leave the program, they could do it whenever they desire to, as long as they have paid the loan in full. Table 2. Grameen Bank´s Sixteen Decisions. 14 15 16. al. n. 12 13. io. 11. Nat. 7 8 9 10. ‧. 6. 學. 4 5. 立. y. 3. sit. 2. 政治大. er. 1. Decisions We shall follow and advance the four principles of Grameen Bank: Discipline, Unity, Courage and Hard work—in all walks of our lives. We shall bring prosperity to our families. We shall not live in dilapidated houses. We shall repair our houses and work towards constructing new houses at the earliest. We shall grow vegetables all the year round. We shall eat plenty of them and sell the During the plantation season, we shall plant as many seedlings as possible. We shall plan to keep our families small. We shall minimize our expenditures. We shall look after our health. We shall educate our children and ensure that we can earn to pay for their education. We shall always keep our children and the environment clean. We shall build and use pit-latrines. We shall drink water from tubewells. If it is not available, we shall boil water or use We shall not take any dowry at our sons’ weddings; neither shall we give any dowry at our daughters’ wedding. We shall keep the center free from the curse of dowry. We shall not practice child marriage. We shall not inflict any injustice on anyone; neither shall we allow anyone to do so. We shall collectively undertake bigger investments for higher incomes. We shall always be ready to help each other. If anyone is in difficulty, we shall all help him or her. If we come to know of any breach of discipline in any center, we shall go there and help restore discipline. We shall introduce physical exercise in all our Centers. We shall take part in all social activities collectively.. ‧ 國. No.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 2.2.3. Other Grameen Organizations The Grameen Bank has supports from many organizations such as the American Bank, the US government, CNN, The European Union, The World Bank, private foundations such as the 11.

(22) Rockefeller, the McArthur and Ford, and finally various UN agencies such as the International Fund for Agricultural Development (UNIFAD).. Thanks to the support of these. agencies, beyond banking, Grameen has other members in their group.. These entities are. The Grameen Foundation, The Grameen Bank, Grameen Trust, Grameen Kalyan, Grameen Shakti, and Grameen PrimaCare.. All of them work with the same core idea, but different. purposes.. 政治大 been replicated many times worldwide. Grameen Foundation and Grameen America are U.S. 立. The Grameen Bank fights poverty through microloans. Its successful peer-lending model has. ‧ 國. 學. based nonprofit organizations that help the world’s poorest by providing access to essential financial services and information on health and agriculture through other institutions.. ‧. Grameen Kalyan provides affordable health care services to the rural poor in Bangladesh.. y. Nat. sit. Grameen Shakti is a growing renewable energy technology programs established to promote,. n. al. er. io. develop and popularize renewable energy technologies in rural areas of Bangladesh.. i n U. v. Grameen PrimaCare utilizes an “innovative, integrated approach to provide Grameen America. Ch. engchi. members with an affordable and comprehensive health program that consists of enhanced primary care, peer support groups, connected health tools and essential support services.”5 Grameen Trust, founded by donations from different agencies, supports and promotes poverty-focused Grameen style microcredit loan programs, through replicas, all over the world.. 5. Retrieved from:. http://grameenamerica.org/resource-section 12.

(23) 2.2.4. Replications of the Grameen Model As a result of the success of Grameen Bank, “many people and organizations begin to think in Grameen's way, and want to learn more about Grameen and follow Grameen's principles in their own sphere of work.”6. For this reason the Grameen Bank created the Grameen Trust in. 1989. Powered by donations, the Grameen Trust creates The Grameen Bank Replication Program with the objective of turning the Grameen philosophy into reality in many different. 政治大The replications have been made by direct implementation or through partners. (See Tables 3 and 4) 立 places worldwide by replicas under close supervision.. ‧ 國. 學. The direct implementation projects are created with a view to set up sustainable microcredit programs in locations that are poverty stricken, devastated by natural calamities or badly. ‧. affected by civil war. At present, Grameen Trust has ten ongoing direct implementation. y. Nat. sit. projects in nine different countries such as: China, Colombia, Guatemala, India, Kosovo,. n. al. er. io. Mexico, Turkey, The United Kingdom and The Unites States of America. The data up to. i n U. v. September, 2014 showed that the number of accumulated members was around 250,000 in 188 branches.. Ch. engchi. Almost most of the borrowers are women reaching more than USD 125. millions in outstanding loans with an average repayment rate of 97 per cent. (See Table 3). 6. Retrieved From:. http://www.grameen.com 13.

(24) Table 3. Grameen Trust Direct Implementation Projects. Country. Year of No. Of No. Of % Women Establ. Branches Members Borrowers 2010 2010 2006 2009 2000 2009 2003 2013 2007. 1 484 4 8,052 24 62,100 3 10,485 4 7,214 25 58,063 107 72,890 1 25 19 30,355 188 249,668. 立. 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 38 100. 1,645,161 8,061,527 62,562,263 4,328,891 78,406,843 53,636,422 146,245,716 38,880 197,729,644 552,655,347. 政治大. 學. ‧ 國. China Colombia Guatemala India Kosovo Mexico Turkey U.K. U.S.A. Total. Amount of % Outstanding Repayment Loans Rate 489,839 99 2,111,789 96 9,053,476 99 624,478 100 7,012,699 97 13,042,783 100 65,655,553 100 28,162 85 27,369,054 100 125,387,833. Amount Distributed. Notes of Table 3:. ‧. 1) Cumulative numbers as on 30th. September, 2014. sit. y. Nat. 2) Number of reporting organizations - 9 in 9 countries.. Source: Grameen Trust. al. n. - 17 in 15 countries.. er. io. 3) Total Number of Direct Implementation and Joint collaboration projects in Grameen Trust. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. The replicas implementation through partners consists in hand of the projects over a local organization or hosts.. There are more than forty countries that are participating in this model, including Ecuador. Some of these countries are Afganistan, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya, Korea, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Malasya, Mauritania, Myanmar, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Samoa, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda,. 14.

(25) Vietnam, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.. There are more than 150 projects working under this modality.. According to the official. information from Grameen Trust, the results of these partnerships are 151 Grameen Trust supported organizations in 41 countries.. There are more than 14.5 million accumulated members and almost USD 13 million cumulated amount disbursed. rate of 94 percent.. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. (See Table 4).. Nine per cent of the borrowers are women with a repayment. n. al. y. Number/Amount 151 41 2,112,585 511,934 4,942 14,425,546 11,472,351 201,266,307 12,897,601,469 175,103,344 11,145,366,617 1,752,234,852 320,908,729 92% 94%. er. io. Particulars Total Number of GT Supported Organizations Total Number of Countries Cumulative Number of Groups Cumulative Number of Centres Cumulative Number of Branches Cumulative Number of Members Cumulative Number of Borrowers Amount Disbursed This Month Cumulative Amount Disbursed Amount Repaid This Month Cumulative Amount Repaid Amount of Loan Outstanding Savings Balance Percentage of Women Borrowers Repayment Rate (Average). sit. Nat. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15. ‧. Table 4. Grameen Trust Partner Organizations. Ch. engchi. Notes for Table 4:. 1) Amount in US$ 2) Monthly Statement : September 2014 15. i n U. v.

(26) Source: Grameen Trust. 2.2.4.1 Replications in Developed Countries The World Bank defines developed countries as industrially advanced countries with high income, in which most people have a high standard of living.. According to the World Bank. classification, these include all high-income economies except Hong Kong (China), Israel, Kuwait, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates.. Depending on who defines them,. 政治大. developed countries may also include middle-income countries with transition economies,. 立. because these countries are highly industrialized.7. ‧ 國. 學. Even though developed countries have good living conditions, poverty is everywhere. Yunus. ‧. in his book says that the Grameen model can work wherever there is poverty, including. sit. y. Nat. wealthy countries, as we see in the replicas. He states a clear example about the United. io. al. homeless and the unemployment people.. er. Stated of America, where the model has been applied to the development of the poor, the Bill Clinton, who was the Governor of Arkansas in. n. v i n C h specifically forUthe poor. 1980, decided to set up a bank designed engchi. At the beginning the idea. was ridiculous for Americans even the poor, but then they started small business such as buying nail-sculpting boxes, sewing machines, preparing tacos, or push-carts to sell food. The name of the Grameen Fund in the US is The Good Faith Fund for making the administrative part easier.. When Clinton ran for president he often used the Fund as an. Arkansas example of a successful, innovative way to fight poverty. This experience was replicated in South Dakota, Oklahoma, Cherokee, the ghettos of Chicago, Tulsa, Dallas, Texas, Harlem in NYC, and others. 7. Retrieved from:. http://www.worldbank.org/depweb/english/beyond/global/glossary.html 16.

(27) In 1988 the Women´s Self-Employment Project (WSEP) and the Full Circle Fund (FCF) were established in Illinois in order to offer loans to women from USD 300 to USD 5000. They face a problem because the welfare laws in the US create disincentives for welfare recipients to work.. Those who receive the welfare become virtual prisoners not only of poverty but of. who would help them.. They are not allowed to borrow from any institutional source, so. these projects are not useful for them. waiver at it is renewed year by year.. After many negotiations the state approves a one-year Some other skeptics think that women in the first world. 政治大. are naturally independent and a five-woman group idea would never work with them.. 立. ‧ 國. 學. Similar histories are alive in Western or Eastern Europe or countries such as Canada or England and in all of them the greatest nemesis is the tenacity of the social welfare system.. ‧. Some borrowers try to take loans in secret, hoping the government will not find them out;. y. sit. Unbelievably, when the law finally accepts them to take the loan, charity. io. program operators will not allow them.. al. er. lawbreakers.. Nat. practically many of the first borrowers from Grameen type programs in Europe are technically. The finance ministry of Poland examines two. n. v i n C h and tests nineUpilot models. hundred different lending methodologies engchi. At the end they decide. to adapt Grameen and now they have twenty branches lending to four thousand clients, with a. repayment rate of 98.5 per cent and loans of USD 10 millions.. The Norwegian ministry. offers women credit for generate activities to help them keep on the islands and make their live less lonely and more meaningful.. It shows that the purpose goes beyond money.. Also. Finland and the northern Russia have some kind of depopulation problem and this model creates activities such as making sweaters, paperweights, postcards, wooden troll statues, and painting of the local scenery, so these women’s lives get a new motivational meaning. Additionally in Finland, they create a “green” credit union, which gives microloans to people 17.

(28) who are willing to work only in ecological and social fields.. 2.2.4.2 Replications in Developing Countries The World Bank defines developing countries as countries with low or middle levels of GNP per capita as well as five high-income developing economies -Hong Kong (China), Israel, Kuwait, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates.8. More than 80 per cent of the world's. population lives in the more than 100 developing countries.. 政治大 There are many developing countries that have adopted the Grameen model in different 立 Malaysia and the Philippines.. During the early 90s Grameen made some pilot projects in When a teacher tried to implement in Malaysia he faced two. ‧. ‧ 國. near-universal applicability.. 學. continents based on Yunus’s affirmation that this microcredit methodology could have. sit. y. Nat. main problems: building the Grameen from scratch and finding an appropriate legal. io. support.. er. framework to distance the program from governmental control without losing financial. al. He found the support of the Asia and Pacific Development Center (APDC) that. n. v i n Cstages provided seed funding in the early replication. h e nofgthecMalaysia hi U. After two years of the. experimental phase, they announce ambitious plans to expand to even less developed regions of northern Malaysia. They form an association of Grameen replications programs called CASHPOR, reaching more than forty two thousands poor families living under the poverty line.. The results are exceptional that their repayment rate is even higher than the. Bangladesh´s. In the Philippines, a teacher creates a replication called “Ahon Sa Hirop” that means rise 8. These five economies are classified as developing despite their high per capita income due to their economic structures or the official opinions of their governments. 18.

(29) above poverty where the main activity is about rice, but many borrowers successfully raise pigs (very different from Bangladesh because of the religious concern of consuming pork). This organization lives many difficult moments and troubles from the borrowers but even a higher difficulty managing the staff.. All these problems change when they name manager a. woman with a strong background in the private sector, excellent managerial skills, and a natural talent for working with poor women. programs.. Today this replica is one of the most successful. In addition in the Philippines, in the southern area, in the Negros Occidental the. 政治大. Governor created a replica of the Grameen called Dungganon, which means integrity.. 立. With. the strong background in social work and heavy connections to international and national. ‧ 國. 學. donor organizations, the director of the project builds up an excellent program serving several thousand extremely poor people.. ‧. sit. y. Nat. The third program in the Philippines is called the Landless People´s Fund of the Center of In 1997 this program had acquired more than. io. er. Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD).. nine thousand borrowers, an excellent repayment rate and seven branches.. n. al. Ch. engchi U. v ni. Only six years. after, CARD had grown to 69 thousand borrowers with same results.. Encouraged by the success of the programs in Malaysia and the Philippines, the Grameen creates the Grameen Trust that starts motivating many Latin American countries. For instance, Bolivia has lived a very difficult economical and political situation during 1980-1990.. According to Mosley (1999), the government relaxed its banking regulations, allowing nonbank finance companies to begin accepting deposits and making small loans. Nongovernmental organizations such as Prodem 9 and ProMujer followed the Grameen 9. Prodem means “The precursor to Sol Bank” 19.

(30) microcredit model, including reaching out to the rural poor and lending to groups. “The initial rapid growth of micro-lending in Bolivia contributed to a measurable reduction in poverty”10. Another good example is Guatemala. The “Asociacion Civil Guatemalteca Grameen Credit” (ACGGC) is a Grameen project that was set up in December 2005 to provide microcredit for poverty alleviation in Guatemala with financial assistance from the Whole Planet Foundation. Up to year 2007 they reached 6,617 clients and disbursed USD 1,489,414 in micro loans with. 政治大. a maintained 100 per cent repayment rate11.. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. 10 11. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Paul Mosley, (2001), Microfinance and Poverty in Bolivia Retrieved from: http://www.grameen.com/dialogue/dialogue64/Central%20America.html 20.

(31) 3. Microcredit in Ecuador 3.1. Poverty and Microcredit in Ecuador 3.1.1. Economic and Socio-Politic Situation Ecuador is a small country, situated in South America, in the heart of the Andes.. It is. bordered on the North by Colombia, on the East and South by Peru and on the West by the Pacific Ocean.. The country is divided in three natural regions and an island; the Coast, the. 政治大. Highlands, the Amazon and the Galapagos Islands, each with its own different characteristics,. 立. 學. io. n. al. Ch. y. Republic of Ecuador Quito USD Rafael Correa Democratic 15.8 million 256.000 KM2 2 seasons (summer and winter) Spanish. sit. Nat. Official Name Capital Currency President Form of government Population Area Climate Official language. ‧. Table 5. Ecuador basic profile. er. (See Table 5). The following table summarizes the basic information about Ecuador.. ‧ 國. customs and weather.. engchi. i n U. v. Source: ProEcuador12. The economy of Ecuador is based mostly on exporting oil and products such as coffee, cacao, flowers, bananas, shrimp, gold, and the emigrant money transfers.. According to the. government, Ecuador closed the year 2014 with a 3.8 per cent unemployment rate, 34 per cent. 12. http://www.pro-ecuador.com/ecuador-facts.html#sthash.0Jj2tnYS.dpbs http://www.ecuador.org/country_information.htm 21.

(32) underemployment rate, 4.24 per cent of inflation rate, and a monthly USD 340 minimum wage.. In 2013 the GDP per capita was USD 4,253.13. The government in its Annual Report. of poverty December 2014, established the poverty line at USD 81 a month/person (USD 2.7 a day), and the extreme poverty line at USD 46 a month/person (USD 1.53 a day). According to these criteria, the national index of poverty closed in 2014 at 23 per cent and the extreme poverty at 8 per cent of the total population.. 政治大 poverty population represents the 17 per cent and the extreme poverty population 5 per cent. 立. The urban population represents 63 per cent of the national population; in the urban area, the. ‧ 國. 學. The rural population represents 37 per cent of the national population; in the rural area, the poverty population represents 35 per cent and the extreme poverty counterpart 15 per cent. 14. ‧. The same previous information is useful to realize in numbers as follow:. y. Nat. n. Population Urban Rural. aTotal l C 15,737,878 h 9,914,863 5,823,015. %. Poverty. 3,682,663 e100 hi U n g c1,685,527 63 37. 2,038,055. er. sit. Table 6. Poverty in Ecuador (2014). io 2014. (See Table 6). v ni % 23 17 35. Extreme Poverty 1,329,851 495,743 873,452. % 8 5 15. It means that around 5 million people live in poverty; 3.6 million people live with USD 2.7 a day, and 1.3 million people live with USD 1.53 a day.. Almost 3 million people living in. poverty and extreme poverty are from the rural areas.. Although Ecuador is an oil-producing nation, it has long been a difficult environment for jobs. The economic active population is the 45 per cent of the total population, which means 13 14. Retrieved from: http://contenido.bce.fin.ec/documentos/Estadisticas/SectorReal ENEMDU- December 2014 22.

(33) around 7 million people. population.. The underemployment and unemployment reach 38 per cent of the. In particular, around 5 million people do not have a formal job and 600. thousand do not have a job.. In a population where 50 per cent are women and 50 per cent. are men15, the 58.8 per cent of people who are working are men, and 41.2 per cent are women. This means that the higher portion of people who do not have a formal or any job is women.. 3.1.2. Microfinance in Ecuador. 政治大. According to the Transparent Pricing in the Microfinance Industry Organization, “Ecuador. 立. has one of the fastest growing microfinance sectors in the Latin American region.. From the. ‧ 國. 學. government’s determined effort in the last five years to reform the existing supervisory framework and provide access to funding for microfinance institutions, the future outlook of. ‧. the sector looks positive. The leading providers of microfinance are downscaling commercial. y. Nat. n. al. er. The gap in market penetration between urban and rural areas is relatively. io. organizations.. sit. banks, regulated loans and saving cooperatives, registered cooperatives and non-government. i n U. v. high, representing a significant untapped demand for financial services”.16. Ch. engchi. The Center for Financial Inclusion at Action17 said in 1999 that microfinance in Ecuador continued to experience growth and relative stability in large part because of the support from the government, international donors and aid agencies.. On average, “the microenterprise. sector provides jobs for an estimated more than 1 million people. totalize 25.7 per cent of GDP.. Sales from these jobs. One of the sector’s main challenges at the beginning is the. 15. Retrieved from: World Bank Development Indicators Retrieved from: http://www.mftransparency.org/microfinance-pricing/ecuador/ 17 The Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion (CFI) is an action-oriented think tank working toward full global financial inclusion. (http://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org) 16. 23.

(34) lack of growth that microenterprises generally experience”. (The United States Agency for International Development – USAID, 1999). 3.1.3. Legal Framework in Ecuador After the Banking and Financial crisis in 1999, when the country adopted US dollar as the national currency, Ecuador started more strict financial policies to avoid the collapse and bankruptcy of the financial system once again. In this sense, many institutions reformed their. 政治大. functions and became control agents to audit the activities of the private and public entities. 立. related with money.. ‧ 國. 學. Ecuador’s Ministry of Economy and Finance manages the country’s public finances. The. The Central Bank manages the country’s monetary. sit. y. Nat. all financial activities in the country18.. ‧. mission of this Ministry is to ensure the sustainability, stability, fairness and transparency in. io. er. policy. It establishes the level of money available in the country and sets interest rate limits for the private and public financial system19.. al. The Banking and Insurance Superintendent is. n. v i n Cofhsafeguarding theUfinancial system and making sure that the governmental entity in charge engchi. banks and other financial institutions govern themselves according to existing law and strict provisions20.. Both, the Superintendent and the Central Bank audit all financial institutions according to the country principles.. Additionally, they ensure customers the degree of transparency. established by the National Organic Law of Transparency and Access to Public Information. 18 19 20. Retrieved from: Retrieved from: Retrieved from:. http://www.finanzas.gob.ec/el-ministerio/ http://www.bce.fin.ec/index.php/funciones-del-banco-central http://www.sbs.gob.ec/practg/p_index 24.

(35) (2004).. This transparency law guarantees the right to access information sources with. respect to the management of public affairs as well as other entities obligated by this Law (some private entities as banks).. The General Law on Institutions in the Financial System underlines the general rules for financial institutions including banks, homeowner societies, savings, and credit cooperatives. These institutions must correctly disclose both, interest rates and conditions of their loans.. 政治大 establishes USD 1.2 billion emergency liquidity fund (provision) which will be jointly funded 立 In December 2008, the National Assembly created a Financial Safety Network Law. It. by banks and the government.. ‧ 國. 學. Despite the existence of a Microfinance Division in the Banking Superintendent, the division. ‧. supervised cooperatives and yet ignored smaller institutions involved in microfinance, before. y. Nat. In October 2001, Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI) began implementing the. sit. 2000.. n. al. er. io. Project “Strengthening Access to Microfinance and Liberalization Task Order” (SALTO),. i n U. v. financed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Ecuador.. Ch. engchi. This project, defined by the USAID an economic growth and poverty reduction strategy, was designed mainly to develop the microfinance industry, and critical macroeconomic structural reforms in Ecuador. 21 SALTO worked closely with the Superintendency of Banks and Insurance (SBS) to improve the bank policy and regulatory environment to development a dynamic microfinance industry sector. In 2002, for the first time in Ecuador, microcredit was defined as a “loan that finances a micro enterprise whose source of repayments is sales from production, commerce or service 21. Retrieved from:. http://dai.com/our-work/projects/ecuador 25.

(36) activities.”22 There were other considerations about microcredit such as:. the maximum. amount is USD 20 thousand; very strict provision requirements for the financial institutions; guarantees would be required depending of the financial entity. (See Table 7). According to. Rodrigo Espinoza, an executive member of The Superintendency of Banks, “In Ecuador, the microfinance industry will be able to grow under the umbrella of a banking law that is applied to all types of institutions and within this law, there is still opportunity for differential, namely, a lower stated minimum capital requirement for microfinance entities (MFs) than for commercial banks”. 立. 政治大. Table 7. Microfinance most relevant Ecuadorian Regulations. ‧ 國. y. sit. n. al. er. io. 4. Nat. 2 3. Prudential Norms A micro loan is defined as a loan that finances a micro enterprise whose source of repayments are sales from production, commerce or service activities. The maximum size for a micro loan is $20,000. Loan provisioning is mandatory after five days of arrears. The MFIs have the liberty to establish the loan size above which guarantees would be required. For loans below this amount, all that is needed is a personal guarantor or a document signed by the borrower stating the personal assets that can be seized in case Financial institutions can voluntarily provision above specific provision requirements set by the Superintendency. Loans that are 90 days past due must be provisioned at 100% and written off in no later than 180 days past due.. ‧. 1. 學. No.. 5 6. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Notes Table 7:. 1) Norms approved by the National Banking Commission in December 2002. Source:. 22. http://www.sbs.gob.ec. Retrieved from:. http://www.sbs.gob.ec 26.

(37) 3.2. Current Structure of Microcredit in Ecuador Currently, the main microfinance banking network in Ecuador is called “The Financial Rural Network (RFR)”. This is a national network of institutions working on the development of microfinance, which contributes to improving the quality of life of vulnerable people of Ecuador.. It influences in the design, implementation and evaluation in public policies. related to the sector; and promotes good practices and transparency of financial and social information sector23.. 立. 政治大. Up to December 2013, in the Annual Report, the network was reported to have 46 members,. ‧ 國. 學. including banks, loans cooperatives and Non Profitable Organizations.. These members. represented a loan portfolio of USD 2.2 billion, serving almost 800 thousand. ‧. micro-entrepreneurs and small producers nationwide.. By that time, they had seven projects,. y. Nat. sit. some of those working with international agencies such as USAID, The International. al. n. 52 members.. er. io. Warranty Fund and The Microfinance Center of Polonia. In December 2014, the network got (See Table 8). Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Table 8. Financial Rural Network Information Organization Bank Bank Bank Bank Bank Bank. No. Of Organization Members Coopnacional Finca Banco D-Miro S.A. Bancodesarrollo Credife Solidario Total Banks. Total Micro Portfolio No. Of Borrowers 23,754,981.62 27,053 39,669,411.60 25,188 75,320,480.99 39,977 65,084,123.38 19,990 605,085,675.52 153,244 345,285,851.78 150,059 1,154,200,524.89 415,511. continue… …Continuation of Table 8. The Financial Rural Network Information 23. Retrieved from:. http://www.rfr.org.ec 27.

(38) No. Of Organization Members Sac Padre Vicente Ponce Rubio Nueva Huancavilca 9 De Octubre Virgen Del Cisne Lucha Campesina La Benéfica 4 De Octubre Cacpe Zamora Maquita Cushunchic Chone Guaranda Luz Del Valle Fernando Daquilema Kullki Wasi Chibuleo Ambato Cacpe Pastaza San José 23 De Julio Atuntaqui Cacpeco Mushuc Runa Cooprogreso 29 De Octubre Jardín Azuayo Mujeres Unidas Santa Anita San Gabriel San Antonio San Miguel De Pallatanga Financoop Total Cooperatives. engchi. y. sit. er. n. Ch. ‧. io. al. 學. ‧ 國. 立. Total Micro Portfolio No. Of Borrowers 1,497,428.01 725 3,650,779.87 2,176 5,376,230.07 897 11,431,612.90 4,959 11,120,598.96 3,535 9,105,523.99 3,470 14,023,974.50 3,123 11,673,296.59 2,339 13,313,965.35 3,319 17,965,832.21 4,543 16,794,586.49 3,756 17,465,048.39 4,538 34,279,322.75 11,834 38,883,878.46 11,025 33,517,800.90 11,469 43,125,699.28 13,175 36,179,511.39 6,895 36,026,411.10 10,037 46,420,542.02 8,400 39,728,344.78 8,525 77,020,863.57 15,884 111,615,798.89 37,985 95,670,284.46 22,000 74,488,669.25 17,377 111,515,503.02 22,096 9,876,244.38 3,098 6,519,371.34 3,336 8,352,670.90 2,692 10,264,248.68 2,566 4,346,579.17 1,505 951,250,621.67 247,279. 政治大. Nat. Organization Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative Cooperative. i n U. v. continue…. 28.

(39) …Continuation of Table 8. The Financial Rural Network Information Organization NGO NGO NGO NGO NGO NGO NGO NGO NGO NGO NGO NGO NGO NGO. No. Of Organization Members Cepesiu Fundamic Casa Campesina De Cayambe Faces Insotec Fundación Alternativa Fodemi Espoir Ucade-Diócesis Latacunga Ucade-Fasca Sto.Domingo Ucade-Diócesis Ambato Care Ecuador Freedom From Hunger Fepp Total NGOs Total Banks + Cooperatives + NGOs. ‧. ‧ 國. 政治大. 學. Notes Table 8:. 立. Total Micro Portfolio No. Of Borrowers 1,942,448.69 4,351 2,841,578.16 2,885 2,566,921.12 934 20,235,035.98 12,204 24,853,613.06 15,595 27,490,890.63 10,941 38,682,000.87 65,544 46,116,751.06 51,586 2,631,032.99 3,923 3,656,482.89 3,569 4,395,718.86 5,960 175,412,474.31 177,492 2,280,863,620.87 840,282. y. Nat. er. io. sit. 1) Information up to December, 2014. 2) From June 2013 the financial information of Banco Solidario considers the merger by. n. al. Ch. i n U. absorption of ordinary Banco Universal SA. Unibanco.. engchi. v. 3) Bancodesarrollo acquires legal personality is new, previously COAC Codesarrollo 4) Banco Solidario and Espoir information includes trusts 5) No information submitted by Care, Fepp, and Fredom from Hunger. Source:. http://www.rfr.org.ec. 3.3. Grameen Replica in Ecuador According to the Grameen Trust Orgnization, there is one organization which is a formal replica of this model.. The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), inspired by the 29.

(40) needs of small business sector in Quito, has been developing the microcredit program Circles of Solidarity Economy (CESOL) since 1997.24. In December 2000, Grameen Trust approved their project proposal to start the first ever Grameen Bank replication project in south west Quito.. A unique fund of USD 37,000 from. the World Bank grant was agreed upon in December 2000. The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) has made the entire repayment.25. 政治大. According to the Grameen Dialogue, since September 2000, The YMCA and the CESOL. 立. group started facing discipline and administrative problems that severely affected the. ‧ 國. 學. accounting process.. Nevertheless, by 2002 they had around 200 new borrowers, who. have invested their loans to start or expand income generating activities:. Agriculture (0.8. ‧. From 2002 there was no more information about this. sit. Nat. cent), and services (7.2 per cent).26. y. per cent), small animal raising (41.8 per cent), handicraft (11.3 per cent), trading (38.9 per. er. io. entities and Grameen relationship.. n. al. These problems caused a operational effectiveness.. i n C difficulty management h einnthe gchi U. v. of the loans, repayments and. The administrative problems started because its legal framework. is as a NGO, managed as a charity organization and not as a social business.. As in the other. replica in the Philippines, managing the staff is a very important and not easy task, but all these problems change when they name manager a person with a strong background in the private banking sector, excellent managerial skills, and a natural talent for working with poor women. 24 25 26. As mentioned in section 2.2.4.2. “Replicas in developing countries”, today the. Retrieved from: Retrieved from: Retrieved from:. http://www.acjecuador.org/ http://www.grameentrust.org//?s=ecuador http://www.grameen.com/dialogue/dialogue51/countryreport.html 30.

(41) Philippines replica is one of the most successful programs.. There is another foundation, The Foundation for Cultural and Educational Development (FUDECE),27 working in microcredit under the Grameen principles, but the Grameen Bank and Trust did not recognize this organization as official replica. They have the support of the Grameen Foundation USA. network of FUDECE.. There are six institutions working in eight cities under a. Four of the six institutions in the network are religious groups with. 政治大 was USD 1.5 million and 100 per cent of borrowers were women. 立. 84 per cent of the total portfolio and 87 per cent of active borrowers.. By 2012, the portfolio. (See Table 9). io. 4 5 6. Source:. al. n. 3. Ch. 217. 204,850. 72,771. Feb-03. 854,290. 195,404. 1,879. 1,693,114. 179,987. 1,397. 1,658,227. 180,000. Feb-15. 10,568. 11,047,210. 941,266. Jun-05. 70. 21,200. 5,383. 14,854. 15,478,891. 1,574,811. Aug-02. e n gAug-00 chi U. y. Dec-03. sit. ‧ 國. Coop. Ahorro y Crédito Lago Agrio Grameen Amazonas Programa Grameen Quito FUDECE Esmeraldas Coop. De Ahorro y Cré Guayaquil dito "De todas" En las Huellas Banco Cantón Loja Grameen Guayaquil Hogar de Cristo La libertad Banco de Iniciativas Azuay Económico Sociales Total. No. of Cumulative Cumulative Active Current Amount Borrowers Portfolio. 723. er. 2. Constitution Date. City. Nat. 1. Program/Institution Name. ‧. Nº. 學. Table 9. The Foundation for Cultural and Educational Development Network. v ni. http://fudece.org/. At the beginning the most important project of the FUCEDE was the “Cooperative of Savings” that was launched in December 2003, with the support of members in the Church of San. 27. Foundation for Cultural and Educational Development 31.

(42) Miguel de Sucumbios 28 (ISAMIS), and government institutions such as the National Direction of Housing Cooperatives (DINACOOP) 29 and the Ministry of Social Welfare (MBS).. The Cooperative had ambitious prospects for expansion especially to rural areas of. Ecuador's eastern region.. This expected progress never happened and they needed to find a. different way of expansion of their biggest project. The “Cooperative of Savings” and “The Lago Agrio Cooperative”30 are merged into a single entity called “Cooperative Savings and Credit Grameen Amazon”, which has offices in three different cities. 31. 政治大 In order to also help the poor, in 2006, an agreement was signed between the FUDECE, the 立 ‧. ‧ 國. bonus”32.. 學. National Finance Corporation of Ecuador (CFN) and the MBS to deliver the “social welfare. 3.4. Feasibility Analysis of Microfinance Models in Ecuador. sit. y. Nat. io. al. er. There have been significant efforts in Ecuador, from the government and international. n. agencies, to encourage microfinance industry as a way out of poverty.. Ch. engchi U. v ni. There are different. understandings of microfinance or microcredit and also between micro-business, poverty and extreme poverty in the country.. This forces the microfinance industry to grow by covering. some areas of the population, but not all of them.. The purpose of this thesis is to realize if. the poorest people in Ecuador (people who live under the poverty line and do not possess a stable income or live in deplorable conditions) have access to small loans in order to start. 28. San Miguel de Sucumbios is a small city in the Amazon of Ecuador Retrieved from: www.dinacoop.gov.ec 30 Lago Agrio is a small city in the Amazon 31 Sucumbios, Pichincha and Esmeraldas 32 The social welfare bonus is USD 50/month that the government provides to single mothers, elderly, disabled people. 29. 32.

(43) their own sources of income; and if not, create a way to facilitate access to income generation.. From this research, it seems that the microfinance sector is mostly commanded by traditional banks (branches), and some under other influential groups (religious or social).. According. to the Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA International)33, 64 per cent of the Ecuadorian population is financially excluded, which means that this part of the population lacks of a bank account at any financial institution. Consequently, the part of. 政治大 reaching these financially excluded people. 立. microfinance which is serving the customers under the traditional banking system is not. ‧ 國. 學. The government defined and developed the microfinance industry in 2001, with the support of the USAID and the implementation of the SALTO Project.. Currently, the most important. ‧. benchmark for the government in the microfinance industry is “The Financial Rural Network. y. Nat. Both, definition and benchmark are related to the more than 1.5 million existing. sit. (RFR)”.. er. io. micro-enterprises in the country and how to enhance and channel credit for them.. al. n. v i n C h to reform the Banking The SALTO supports the government e n g c h i U Law, including the microfinance main norms. Then, around eight Micro Finance Institutions (MIFs) are supported to create their branches under this financial framework.. For instance, Banco Solidario34 and Banco. del Pichincha 35 (through their “CREDI FE” micro loan program).. According to The. Superintendency of Banking and Insurance (SBS), microcredit is developed and covered not only in cities but also in the countryside.. They indicate that Banks (with their branches) are. providing microcredit mostly in the urban areas; while cooperatives savings’ most important 33 34 35. Retrieved from: http://www.finca.org/where-we-work/latin-america/ecuador/ Solidary Bank is one of the largest banks in Ecuador https://www.banco-solidario.com/ Pichincha Bank is one of the largest banks in Ecuador https://www.pichincha.com/ 33.

(44) targets are rural areas. All of these institutions are regulated by the Banking law.. With this. law financial collateral is needed and “a microenterprise loan finances a business with a source of repayments from production, commerce or service activities” 36. The Financial Rural Network (RFR) is formed by six bank branches such as the CREDIFE; 35 cooperatives such as “Cooprogreso”37 or “Maquita Cushunchic”38; and 11 NGOs.. Bank. branches and cooperatives focus on microenterprises and their growing through loans for. 政治大 capital, fixed assets, infrastructure improvement, and others. The requirements for these loans 立. buying machinery, vehicles or commercial properties, construction, increasing working. ‧ 國. 學. are mostly the same in all financial institutions. Some of the very basic requirements are the customer and collateral tax and personal identification numbers, bank and trade references The amount goes from. y. However, many, if not most, of the poorest people in Ecuador do. sit. Nat. USD 600 to USD 20,000.. ‧. and others such as mortgage guarantee (depending on the amount).. io. n. al. er. not have a personal identification number or a tax identification number.. i n U. v. Certainly, and according to the government information, the Microfinance industry in Ecuador. Ch. engchi. has increased from the creation of the legal framework under the financial system. the most important reasons of this change, among others, are:. Some of. the transformation of the. National Productive Matrix Policy (created and adopted by government regulations) and the return of many emigrants caused by the crisis in Spain.. The National Productive Matrix Policy in Ecuador is the way and strategies how the. 36. SBS Superintendency of Banking and Insurance Cooprogreso is one of the most important cooperative savings in Ecuador. www.cooprogreso.fin.ec/ 38 Maquita Cushunchic is an important cooperative in Ecuador www.maquita.com.ec 37. 34.

(45) government manage the production and products in the country. It establishes the processes and final destination of goods and services produced.. The most important challenge of this. policy is to strength the local production by reducing imports in raw material as much as in finished products.. The transformation of the productive matrix involves change from a primary goods exporter to an efficient producer.. The result creates high added value products for exportation and for. 政治大 of reducing imports and increasing local production through microenterprises with the support 立. local consumption.39. Many businesses have started in this way to meet the government goal. of microcredit.. ‧ 國. 學. From 1995 Ecuadorians started to migrate mainly to Spain.. When Spain faced the financial,. ‧. Owning properties is important to apply for a. sit. Nat. some savings to purchase properties.. y. employment and housing crisis around 2010, many Ecuadorians returned to the country with. n. al. From the loan they started their own small. er. io. maximum of USD 20,000 microcredit loan.. i n U. v. business and thus generating demand for the Microfinance industry.. Ch. engchi. On the other hand, NGOs such as CARE ECUADOR40, FODEMI41, FEPP42 or CEPESIU43 are basically working in social assistance programs and supporting low-income micro-entrepreneurs (especially farmers) who need the money to invest and grow their. 39. Retrieved from: http://www.planificacion.gob.ec/2013/01/matriz_productiva_WEBtodo.pdf 40 The Cooperative for American Remittances to Everywhere works for development and humanitarian aid projects http://www.care.org.ec/ 41 Microenterprise Development Fund http://fodemi.org/ 42 The Ecuadorian Fund Populorum Progressio http://www.camari.org 43 Specialized in providing services to rural small-scale economic units in the urban areas http://www.cepesiu.org/p/inicio/ 35.

(46) businesses. The first one, CARE, is working on nutrition education, forestry and irrigation projects in the mountains. The second one, FODEMI, is focused on micro-entrepreneurs, facilitating loans quickly with minimal guarantees and requirements, but the loan still requires financial collateral.. The third one, FEPP has a social purpose, supporting and developing. farmers. The last one, CEPESIU, is specialized in providing services to rural small-scale economic units in the urban areas through support developing agencies and productive projects in the agricultural and tourism businesses.. NGOs are mainly working with farmers,. 政治大. creating small enterprises or projects in the social field and providing them social assistance,. 立. improving their cultivated land, and promoting their products by creating fairs or different. ‧ 國. 學. events.. In Ecuador only people who. sit. y. Nat. people in any country, but very small farmers or laborers are.. ‧. Yunus in his book “The Banker to the Poor” explained that not all farmers are the poorest. io. er. had covered their basic needs are able to have land, become farmers or have small shops; in general these people are not extremely poor.. Since NGOs are focus on help farmers, they. al. n. v i n are not strictly working only withCthe inUthe country. h poorest i e n g people h c. That means that neither. the financial institutions nor the NGOs are covering the poorest to the poor in the sense of helping them generate their own businesses and sources of income.. The official Replica in Ecuador had worked in the capital city (not rural areas).. There has. been no information about it since 2002 neither in Grameen organizations nor Ecuadorian sources.. It is assumed that due to their discipline and administrative problems in the year. 2000, they made the entire repayment to the World Bank and reported to the Grameen Trust and then stopped their operation in 2002.. 36.

(47) The FUDECE is working mainly with women in some religious groups established in big cities of Ecuador such as Quito and Guayaquil. From the USD 1.5 million of the current portfolio, more than USD 1.4 million is managed by religious groups in urban areas.. This. means that borrowers are primarily segmented by their religions, so outside of these religious groups those in extreme poverty struggle to access microcredit despite the fact that they are the most in need of this service.. 政治大 population who does not have access to microcredit as a tool against extreme poverty. 立. After the research of this thesis, it has been shown that there is still a part of the Ecuadorian This. ‧ 國. disadvantages.. 學. part is the society´s most vulnerable people who face not only economic problems but social However, to create a mechanism to provide credit to this part of the. ‧. population is not an easy task. It requires a combination of existing strategies, adaptation of. sit. y. Nat. current ideas and creation of some innovative approaches to get good results. Based on the. io. Ecuadorian reality through some critical success factors.. n. al. Ch. engchi. 37. er. Grameen Bank model, the next chapter is an adaptation of this functionality into the. i n U. v.