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Yes! I want to support microfinance and empower people to work their way out of poverty.
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SOGESOL (SOGEBANK)
General Manager: Daphné Louissante
Active Borrowers: 13,491
Active Portfolio: $12,326,000
Average First Loan: $625
Portfolio at Risk > 30 Days: 5.06%
Savers: n/a
Savings Balance: n/a
Statistics as of December 2009
Mission: SOGESOL is committed to the mission of promoting Haitian entrepreneurship through adapting traditional banking methods to respond to the needs of micro- and small entrepreneurs.
History: In 1999, a senior manager at SOGEBANK, Haiti’s largest commercial bank, became interested in microfinance after observing successful experiences in other countries. He believed that microfinance offered SOGEBANK an opportunity to achieve both social and business objectives and he convinced the decision makers at the bank to explore the possibilities. To this end, SOGEBANK enlisted ACCION to help build SOGESOL, an independent, commercial microlending institution using a “service company” model. Under this model, SOGESOL provides loan origination and credit administration services to SOGEBANK. The loans are booked at SOGEBANK, but SOGESOL has primary responsibility for promoting, evaluating, approving, tracking and collecting them. SOGESOL’s first loans were issued in August 2000.
ACCION’s Role: ACCION has worked closely with SOGESOL from the company’s inception. As a shareholder, ACCION plays an active governance role in the institution. ACCION has also provided continuous technical assistance support to the management of the organization. Through various on-site resident advisors, ACCION has supported SOGESOL with the development and the implementation of credit methodologies, the training of loan officers, the documentation of policies and procedures, and general credit management.
Borrower Profile: Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world with a 2005 GNI per capita of US$450 (World Bank, 2006). The majority of SOGESOL clients are micro- and small business owners in the trading and service sectors, as most operate retail businesses. A comprehensive poverty study of SOGESOL clients indicates that approximately 50 percent of SOGESOL’s current client base in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area live below the poverty line, and more than half the clients are women. For more details, see “ACCION Poverty Outreach Findings: SOGESOL, Haiti”. Utilizing the information from these market studies, SOGESOL aims to improve both client outreach and retention among the very poor. According to the study, clients who have received multiple loans from SOGESOL are wealthier than those who have received only one loan. In addition, the median loan size increases as the client’s level of wealth rises, such that the median loan size among the wealthiest clients is 77% higher than among the poorest.
What's New: In 2009, ACCION established its Haitian partner as one of its Innovation Labs to experiment with streamlined processes for credit risk management and scoring. Knowledge gained from this innovative technical assistance program will be shared with ACCION’s African partners that operate under similar business conditions and human resource constraints. ACCION’s work in this area continues to advance well, especially with Cassandre DuPont working as a Risk Analyst (Resident Advisor). ACCION has also helped SOGESOL to implement the Fast Cash loan process, which enables branches to offer individual loans of less than US$700 to lower-income microentrepreneurs in a more efficient manner. In the past two years, this product’s outreach has surpassed more than 5,000 active clients.
Learn about Sogesol and The Haiti Earthquake of 2010
Where They Work: SogeSol’s network has grown in the past year and is currently composed of six branches in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area (Rue-du-Quai, Bois Verna, Delmas, Petion-Ville, Carrefour and Croix-des-Bouquets) and seven branches in provincial areas (Cap-Haïtiens, Gonaïves, Port-de-Paix, and St Marc in the north and Les Cayes, Petit-Gonâve, and Jacmel in the south of the country). It plans to open new branches in two more secondary towns in 2007. SogeSol is part of the SOGEBANK network which has 44 branches nationwide.
Program Growth:
|
Year |
Active
Portfolio |
Amount
Loaned |
Active
Borrowers |
Average
Loan
Balance |
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2002 |
$2,677,000 |
$8,703,000 |
6,364 |
$421 |
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2003 |
$4,832,000 |
$12,589,000 |
7,070 |
$683 |
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2004 |
$5,542,674 |
$11,875,365 |
6,246 |
$887 |
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2005 |
$5,760,470 |
$14,780,800 |
7,931 |
$726 |
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2006 |
$11,246,000 |
$21,099,000 |
11,617 |
$968 |
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2007 |
$13,000,000 |
$28,100,000 |
11,946 |
$1,091 |
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2008 |
$12,922,000 |
$27,737,000 |
12,938 |
$999 |
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2009 |
$12,326,000 |
$27,758,000 |
13,491 |
$914 |
Contact Information:
SOGESOL
Daphné Louissaint, General Manager
Angle Rue Darguin & Geffrard Pétion-Ville
Haiti
Tel: (509) 229-5832 (or 5827)
Fax: (509) 229-5830
Website: http://www.sogebank.com/groupe/sogesol.html
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“I was surprised,” Raymond says. “I never knew people like that would loan to something like my shop.”
Raymond St. Juscar
Client of ACCION partner SOGESOL in Haiti |
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