Microfinance in Burkina Faso

A microfinance initiative in Burkina Faso began in 2005 in the Banfora area. The area is home to SN-SOSUCO, a sugar plantation and refinery acquired under the Burkina Faso privatization programme by AKFED. The company, which farms its own sugar cane plantations and operates the country’s largest sugar refinery, employs nearly 4,000 permanent and seasonal workers. The Banfora area near the company is home to 70,000 people.

The microfinance programme is designed to complement and expand the input credit scheme currently managed by SN-SOSUCO. The programme targets seasonal workers, who often must find other economic activity during the off-season, and the population at large in the area. It will include credit for education, health, housing improvement, economic diversification, group credit, emergency loans, as well as others.

A second initiative in Burkina Faso concerns the vast cotton-growing areas south of Ouagadougou, where over 15,000 farmers are occupied with cotton. The local ginneries are operated by FASO COTON, a subsidiary of AKFED. As in the case of SN-SOSUCO, the concept is to deliver microcredit first to cotton farmers, building on the infrastructure of the industrial venture, which will then serve as a cornerstone for serving the broader local population and providing them with an array of services extending far beyond cotton finance.

AKAM worldwide

AKAM’s microfinance initiatives range from village lending cooperatives to self-standing microfinance institutions to full-fledged microfinance banks. These activities currently operate in Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Egypt, India, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyz Republic, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, and Zanzibar. Often they are part of wider integrated development strategy being implemented by the AKDN within each country. In addition to providing financial services to the poor, they may include business or technical advisory/training extension services and business development programmes that work directly with local entrepreneurs.