Newsletter articles

Oikocredit is ready for the future [interview]

Thos Gieskes_web22 June | 2021 With Oikocredit’s Managing Director, Thos Gieskes, leaving later this year, we wanted to sit down with him to discuss his time at Oikocredit. We also recently held our Annual General Meeting, making this a good time to reflect on what Oikocredit was like when Thos first started, where the cooperative is today, where it’s headed and how the current and new strategy are connected to it all. full story

It's not just about growth [interview]

06 April | 2020 Laura Pool, Director of Finance & Risk says: “It's not only about growth in the portfolio, but the quality.” In this interview she provides her insights into the financial results, reflects on Oikocredit’s development as an organisation, and talks about how these results and developments will help Oikocredit face the ongoing coronavirus crisis. full story

With my chickens, I feel free

Blog 1.jpg30 January | 2019 Last month, a group of Oikocredit investors, volunteers and staff spent a week in Peru for the 2018 study tour. One of the partners they visited was financial inclusion organisation ProEmpresa and its end-clients in Lima’s suburbs. Marion Wedegärtner from Oikocredit’s West German Support Association shared her impressions of the trip. full story

A new operating model for Oikocredit [interview]

Bart logo image.PNG29 January | 2019 Earlier this year, Oikocredit introduced its updated strategy. Bart van Eyk, Oikocredit’s Director of Investments, shares the latest details of our updated strategy and explains how changes to our regional setup will help us to better serve our partners with the aim of creating an even stronger social impact. full story

Preserving the future of cocoa in Côte d’Ivoire

ECOO-CI-18.jpg28 January | 2019 Nearly half of the world’s chocolate supply is grown in Côte d’Ivoire1, where more than a million smallholder farmers depend on cocoa production for their livelihoods. Cocoa is also vital to the ... full story

Meet our Supervisory Board members  

27 August | 2018 Eltjo Kok (the Netherlands) was elected to Oikocredit’s Supervisory Board at the cooperative’s annual general meeting in Chennai, India. “I was very honoured to be elected to the Supervisory Board... full story

Philippines: Lessons learned in disaster preparedness

CB Phillipines.JPG12 January | 2017 To help its partners achieve greater resilience to deal with natural disasters, Oikocredit has been running a Disaster Risk Reduction & Management (DRRM) training programme for nearly three years. This week, Oikocredit investors are visiting partners in the Philippines that have put the DRRM training programme into practice. full story

Letter from our interim managing director

Ging cropped.PNG12 January | 2017 Dear friends, investors and colleagues, A new year has begun. We’ve taken stock of 2016 (our annual results will be announced in March) and turn our focus to what 2017 may bring. We look forward ... full story

The rebuilding and refinancing of Ecuador’s devastated cocoa producers

FORTA-EC-02.jpg19 December | 2016 Last April’s 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Ecuador particularly affected communities living in the coastal area where the fair-trade cocoa growers’ associations Fortaleza del Valle and FONMSOEAM operate. full story

Supporting local producers of honey and nuts

GREEN-KE-11.jpg03 November | 2016 “The recent expansion of Greenforest’s business in Kenya not only provides direct employment for the staff working in our production facilities, it creates indirect employment for the local farmers and suppliers from whom we source materials,” says Athanas Matheka, founder and CEO of Greenforest Foods Limited. He is in no doubt about the important role his company plays in improving the lives of Kenya’s rural farmers. full story

Oikocredit invests in Honduran solar project

planta-solar-honduras2-(2).png29 March | 2016 In the first quarter of 2016, Oikocredit’s renewable energy team completed an investment of US$ 11 million in Compañía Hondureña de Energía Solar, SA de CV (COHESSA). COHESSA is a solar energy ... full story

Oikocredit’s first partner in Latin America

fepp-historic-image-470pixels.jpg27 May | 2015 In Ecuador over 20% of the population live below the national poverty line*. Among the country’s rural population this proportion rises to over 50%**. Fondo Ecuatoriano Populorum Progressio ... full story

Letter from our managing director

vfc-cambodia-square.jpg24 March | 2015 Dear valued stakeholders, With 2015 well under way, it’s a good time to look back on our achievements in the year that’s passed, as well as look ahead to what this year will bring. At Oikocredit, ... full story

Oikocredit’s first ever loan in India

vellore-medical-college-2015.jpg17 March | 2015 In India, around 300 million of its 1.2 billion inhabitants live below the $1.25 a day poverty line. When Oikocredit began operations 40 years ago, the number was almost the same, with around 320 ... full story

Letter from our managing director

alide-small.jpg20 March | 2014 Dear valued stakeholders, With 2014 well under way, it’s a good time to look back on our achievements in the year that’s passed. Last year was my first full year with Oikocredit and it was a ... full story

Darjeeling’s environmental estates

ambootia.jpg09 October | 2013 Oikocredit has been working in India since 1978, investing in equity and providing loans to numerous social enterprises throughout the country. Its most recent equity investment is in Darjeeling Organic Tea Estates Private Ltd., known by its principal estate, Ambootia. The family owned company, led by Sanjay Bansal, is the second largest tea producer in the Darjeeling region and the largest producer of biodynamic Demeter certified tea in the world. It is renowned for its high social and environmental impacts. full story

Marketing Senegal’s mangoes

mangoes-saveurs-du-sud.jpg09 October | 2013 As part of Oikocredit’s strategic focus on agriculture, Oikocredit invests in several agricultural businesses in Africa, including Senegalese mango processing company, Les Saveurs du Sud SA. Although 75% of Senegal’s population works in the agricultural sector, much of the country’s rural areas remain underserviced in terms of electricity, drinkable water, agricultural equipment and irrigation. full story

A truly Divine partnership

Divine Chocolate09 October | 2013 Oikocredit partner, Divine Chocolate, is a company “owned by cocoa farmers, made for chocolate lovers™”. The chocolate company was started by the cocoa producing cooperative, Kuapa Kokoo, and became a partner of Oikocredit in 2006. Today, Divine Chocolate is the only Fairtrade chocolate company which is 45% owned by cocoa farmers. full story

Kuapa Kokoo launches radio programme

kuapa-kokoo-ghana.jpg26 March | 2013 How do you communicate to 65,000 members, some of whom live deep in the rainforest and can’t read or write? This has been a major challenge over recent years for Kuapa Kokoo, a fair trade partner of Oikocredit in Ghana. full story

Social impacts in Senegal

Senegalpic1.png26 March | 2013 Evaluating social returns can be, at times, less straightforward than assessing financial returns. For Oikocredit, seeing the social benefits of its partners’ work remains a top priority. full story

Keeping a sharp eye on social performance

andrea-dominguez.jpg26 March | 2013 For Oikocredit, social returns are as important as financial returns. To assist our partners and the wider microfinance community in maintaining social practices, Oikocredit has a social performance officer in every region. full story

Mentoring microfinance

Ugandapic2.png22 March | 2013 In 2011, Oikocredit developed a social performance mentoring programme to assist microfinance institutions embed social practices into daily operations. How has the mentoring programme fared and what were some outcomes? full story

Combating the grab for land

15 October | 2012 After increasing reports of land grabbing in many developing countries, Oikocredit is providing funds for cooperatives to buy their own land. Many cooperatives rent land and therefore are directly threatened by local or international companies and individuals buying significant areas to farm. full story