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EBRD supports micro enterprises in BiH
Loan help strengthen Sunrise lending capacity
The EBRD is lending to Mikrokreditna Organizacija Sunrise, one of the largest
non-bank micro finance institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), €4
million to enable owners of micro and small enterprises to gain more access to
finance to expand or build their businesses.
The loan, which will be used by Sunrise to on-lend finance to entrepreneurs,
falls under the €75 Million EBRD Micro, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises
Finance Framework for the Western Balkans and Croatia, which aims at
facilitating access to finance for smaller business clients. Sunrise’s loan
will be complemented by an estimated €300,000 in technical assistance from
donor countries, which will help, among other things, its transformation into
the commercial sector, reflecting a new law on micro-credit organisations
recently passed in BiH.
Giulio Moreno, the new EBRD Head of Office in Sarajevo, said Sunrise, with a
portfolio of exclusively business clients, is playing a crucial role in
helping to develop new entrepreneurial skills in the private sector beyond
major towns and cities. It is an important institution that is assisting
entrepreneurs across urban and rural Bosnia and Herzegovina with access to
finance, and its business plan to transform into a countrywide commercial
microfinance company within the next 3 years is welcomed by the Bank, said Mr
Moreno.
Sunrise was initially established in 1996 as a non governmental organisation.
In December 2000, it was registered as a micro finance institution licensed to
provide financial support to micro entrepreneurs in BiH. Throughout its
network of 6 branches and 37 offices, Sunrise serves more than 15,000 clients
across the Federation of BiH, Republika Srpska and District Brcko, both in
urban and rural areas.
Mirsad Milavic, Sunrise General Manager, stressed that the EBRD loan supports
the further development of Sunrise by strengthening its institutional capacity
and financial potential. This also enables Sunrise to offer financial services
to an increasing number of micro and small enterprises, as well as additional
support for Sunrise’s transformation from a non-for-profit to a for-profit
commercial organization. The Board of Governors, Management and all Sunrise’s
employees are certain that the business relationship between Sunrise and EBRD
will enhance Sunrise’s competitive position in the BiH microfinance market.
This latest EBRD loan builds on the Bank’s support for the micro enterprise
sector in BiH. In 2006, the Bank extended loans to Mikrofin and EKI, to help
fund micro enterprises. Across its countries of operations, the EBRD has
committed over €800 million to 80 financial institutions, supporting more than
2 million micro and small businesses.
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