Grameen Crédit Agricole Social Business Fund … accompanying Social Businesses … The Grameen Crédit Agricole Microfinance Foundation, which results from a unique partnership between Crédit Agricole and Professor Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize 2006, is launching a pioneering Social Business Fund for socially motivated investors. Social Business, a concept invented and successfully tested by Professor Yunus Social Business, as defined by Professor Yunus, is an innovative approach, at the intersection of entrepreneurship and solidarity. Social Business mobilises entrepreneurship to serve the fight against poverty and provide access for the poorest to food, health, education, housing, energy, information… In a Social Business enterprise, the social mission is at the heart of its strategy. Its sustainability is ensured by its economic performance. Social Business enterprises must show profits, but these are used to improve or make more affordable products or services offered, or to fund other Social Business enterprises. Social Businesses are not looking for the enrichment of investors but for the creation of social value. This social value must be reflected in appropriate social indicators.
The Grameen Crédit Agricole Social Business Fund (GCA Fund) The GCA Fund will be entirely invested in Social Business enterprises, in developing and emerging countries. This Fund will pursue social goals similar to traditional philanthropy. But it will seek greater economic and social efficiency for each euro invested by investing, in the form of equity and loans, in Social Business enterprises that are based on a sustainable business model and an indisputable social mission.
Legal Status and Governance The fund will be a Specialised Investment Fund (SIF) under the laws of Luxembourg, organised as a SICAV. The Board of Directors of the SICAV will consist of representatives of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, and other investors and qualified individuals. The Foundation will be both a significant investor in the Fund and its exclusive investment policy advisor. Following internal committees, and field due-diligence assignments by the Foundation team, the files will be submitted to the Fund's Investment Committee established by the Board of Directors that will validate the investments.
The Grameen Crédit Agricole Social Business Club Investors willing to be more closely involved in the life and development of the GCA Fund, through field visits, meetings with social entrepreneurs, newsletters and dialogue opportunities with Pr. Yunus, will be invited to join the GCA Social Business Club. They will have the opportunity to support the operations of the Fund through their expertise and network.
Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation The Grameen Crédit Agricole Microfinance Foundation is dedicated to reducing poverty through microfinance and Social Business. It is the result of a unique partnership between Crédit Agricole (the largest bank in France) and Professor Muhammad Yunus, the “Banker of the poor”, founder of Grameen Bank. At its inception in 2008, the Foundation was endowed with € 50 million by Crédit Agricole SA and leans on a team of 17 professionals to carry out its mission. In four years, the Foundation has approved 60 projects in over 20 countries1 and takes an active part in the debate on Microfinance and Social Business, designed as economic tools to address social problems, especially poverty and financial exclusion. 1
as of end June 2012
Grameen Crédit Agricole Social Business Fund … accompanying Social Businesses … Investment Strategy The Fund will target two categories of Social Business enterprises: • industrial businesses which seek to develop and offer essential products and services affordable to the poorest. Generally, the Fund will be a minority co-investor alongside major industrial groups or businesses that are engaged in a social business approach, in the areas of nutrition, health, education, energy, housing, etc. Particular attention will be paid to projects related to agriculture and nutrition. This type of business should represent two thirds of the Fund's portfolio. • microfinance institutions and infrastructures facilitating access for the poorest to financial services; selected microfinance institutions will meet the priorities of the Foundation, including its focus on rural areas and women, and the principles of Social Business. In addition, the Fund will support market infrastructures and service providers in the areas of microinsurance, mobile banking and money transfer. Priority geographical areas of the Fund will be those where the Foundation has developed field knowledge through its network of partner MFIs: Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and Mediterranean basin, South and Southeast Asia. Exceptionally, the Fund may be interested in exemplary projects in other parts of the world, within a limit of 25% of its portfolio. The Fund will support Social Business enterprises through equity capital and loans in substantially equal proportions, acting as a "patient investor" in a spirit of partnership.
Management objective The management objective is to allow subscribers to recoup the nominal amount of their investment. The Fund is therefore designed for investors motivated by the important social dimension of the projects and who believe they will contribute most effectively to the fight against poverty by investing in social business rather than through a traditional philanthropic approach. Projects will be selected according to a rigorous methodology based on financial, social and risk diversification criteria. The Fund is designed to be financially self-sufficient and to cover its risks and operational costs from the resources obtained. However, a Technical Assistance Facility will be sought from donors to support development projects.
This document is intended to be submitted exclusively to institutional, professional, skilled and sophisticated investors and to distributors. The legal documentation is under review by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier of Luxembourg.
Investor’s Profile
This document is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute any recommendation, solicitation or offer, or an advice or invitation to buy or sell units or shares of the SIF-SICAV project presented in this document and shall in no case be construed as such.
This Fund, with a intended size of 15 to 20 million euros, will address investors sensitive to the message of Professor Yunus and willing to contribute to the fight against poverty by favouring an entrepreneurial approach. Alongside the Foundation, which will itself have a significant participation in the Fund, the presence of certain investors such as banks and development agencies will encourage other sophisticated investors: institutional investors, foundations, wealthy individuals. There are plans to eventually include the staff of the Crédit Agricole Group in this initiative by providing the Corporate Savings Plans with access to the investment.
The Grameen Crédit Agricole Microfinance Foundation does not accept responsibility, direct or indirect, for any decision that may result from the use of the information contained herein. The Grameen Crédit Agricole Microfinance Foundation cannot be held responsible for any decision taken on the basis of this information. Prepared by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Microfinance Foundation, Foundation subject to Luxembourg law with its headquarters located 5, Allée Scheffer, L-2520 Luxembourg
Contact: Christophe Person christophe.person@credit-agricole-sa.fr Tel : +33 1 57 72 02 98 www.grameen-credit-agricole.org