Agroinvest - Montenegro | MFIs in Montenegro

Mission:

Serving and empowering rural families with high-quality services and social programmes

Background and Main Challenges:

AgroInvest is a multi-country (Montenegro, Serbia), for-profit, non-bank financial institution focused on providing services to rural population. It started as a microfinance programme of NGO World Vision in September 1999 in Montenegro, and two years later in Serbia. AgroInvest, is an affiliate ... Read more

Address:

27. marta G7, S13, Zabjelo

Podgorica

81000

Montenegro

Phone:

+ 382 20 643 520

Fax:

+ 382 20 643 521

Website:

www.agroinvest.org

% Operations Comprised by MF:

91 - 100

Date established:

Oct 9 1999

FYE:

31-Dec

Current Legal Status:

NBFI

Regulated:

yes

Social Performance Profile


+ Mission specifics
+ Target markets (ranked by importance)
Clients living in rural areas	1
Clients living in urban areas	2
Women	3
+ Development goals (ranked by importance)
Poverty reduction	1
Increased access to financial services	2
Growth of existing businesses	3
Development of start-up enterprises	4
Employment generation	5
Gender equality and women's empowerment	6
+ Poverty targets
Very poor clients
Poor clients
Low income clients
+ Governance
Has trained members of its board on social performance management
Has a formal board committee that monitors social performance
+ Range of products and services
+ Financial products and services offered
+ Credit products offered
Microcredit loans for microenterprises
Microcredit for household needs/consumption
SME loans
Loans for agriculture
+ Savings products offered
+ Compulsory insurance products required
+ Voluntary insurance products offered
+ Other financial products and services offered
+ Non-financial services offered
+ Enterprise services offered
+ Education services offered
+ Health services offered
+ Women's empowerment services offered
+ Products and services targeting the poor
Products and services specifically designed to target the poor:	Small loans with small installments as a pro-poor service; small loans with lower interest rates on subsequent loan cycles
+ Social responsibility to clients
+ Client protection principles in use
The loan approval process requires evaluation of borrower repayment capacity and loan affordability. Loan approval does not rely solely on guarantees (whether peer guarantees, co-signers or collateral) as a substitute for good capacity analysis.
Internal audits check household debt exposure, lending practices that violate procedures including unauthorized re-financing, multiple borrowers or co-signers per household, and other practices that could increase indebtedness.
Productivity targets and incentive systems value portfolio quality at least as highly as other factors, such as disbursement or customer growth. Growth is rewarded only if portfolio quality is high.
Prices, terms and conditions of all financial products are fully disclosed to the customer prior to sale, including interest charges, insurance premiums, minimum balances, all fees, penalties, linked products, third party fees, and whether these can change over time.
Staff is trained to communicate effectively with all customers, ensuring that they understand the product, the terms of the contract, their rights and obligations. Communications techniques address literacy limitations (e.g. reading contracts out loud, materials in local languages).
Acceptable and unacceptable debt collection practices are clearly spelled out in a code of ethics, book of staff rules or debt collection manual.
The organization's corporate culture values and rewards high standards of ethical behavior and customer service.
A mechanism to handle customer complaints is in place, has dedicated staff resources, and is actively used. (Suggestion boxes alone are generally not considered adequate.)
Customers know how their information will be used. Staff explains how data will be used and seeks permission for use.
+ Cost of services to clients
Declining balance interest method
+ Social responsibility to staff
+ Human resources
Transparency on salary (a clear salary scale based upon market salaries)
Benefits (medical insurance, pension contribution)
Protection at work (safety, anti-harassment)
Equality (anti-discrimination, equal pay for men and women with equivalent skill levels)
+ Basis of staff incentives related to social performance
Ability to attract new clients from target market
Portfolio quality
+ Social responsibility to the environment
This institution identifies enterprises with environmental risk
+ Poverty measurement tools in use

Partnerships

Current
Name	Relationship
Incofin - Impulse	Funding
Incofin - VDK MFI Loan Portfolio	Funding
Incofin Fund
Oikocredit	Funding

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