Paraguay > Fundación Paraguaya

About the Field Partner

Field Partner:	Fundación Paraguaya
Field Partner Risk Rating:	(Learn more)
Time On Kiva:	29 months
Kiva Entrepreneurs:	11732
Total Loans:	$2,785,125
Delinquency Rate:	0.00%
Default Rate:	0.00%
Currency Exchange Loss Rate:	0.00%
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Kiva Fundraising Status

Fundraising Status:	Active
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Other Information Sources

MIX Profile:	View MIX Profile
Network Affiliation:	ACCION International
Social Performance Reporting Level:	Reporting to MIX
Consumer Protection Principles:	Endorsed
Field Partner Website:	View Website
Email Contact:	lfsanabria@fundacionparaguaya.org.py

The Fundación Paraguaya

The Fundación Paraguaya is a self-sustaining social enterprise which promotes entrepreneurship in urban and rural areas through three inter-related strategies:

1) A Microfinance Program aimed at smaller microentrepreneurs and emerging microentrepreneurs, who are generally neglected by other microfinance institutions

2) An economic education program for children and youth (Junior Achievement)

3) A self-sufficient agricultural high school, which teaches organic agriculture and entrepreneurial skills to low-income youth from rural areas, transforming them from “poor campesinos” into “rural entrepreneurs”.

The three programs are separate in budgetary and financial terms, but are closely integrated at the operational level so that each program enriches, and is enriched by, the other two. This synergy gives “value added” to each of the three programs and is the driving force behind our “business model.” It is also an important ingredient in the success of our microfinance program.

Our Microfinance Program is a profitable, well-managed business. During the last five years, return of equity has averaged 10%. In 2005, it was cited in the Inter-American Development Bank’s “League of Champions”, as the sixth most profitable microfinance program in Latin America. In 2004, 2005 and 2006, the program also won Honorable Mention in the Financial Transparency competition run by the World Bank-sponsored Consultative Group on the Poor (CGAP).

Our Microfinance Program differs from those of the competition in two key respects. First, our program concentrates on lending to smaller microentrepreneurs and emerging entrepreneurs, whose credit needs are generally neglected by the major microfinance institutions. The average loan size of our competitors is about $600; ours is less than $450, and our loans start as low as $40. Second, we offer our microfinance customers more than just loans. Thanks to our distinctive business model, we also provide a range of educational, business advisory and community development services to customers and their families. This enables the Fundación to position itself as a development, rather than a purely financial, institution, which gives it a competitive advantage over the regulated financial institutions (“financieras”) which are our major competitors.

Fundacion Paraguaya can be contacted via email at burt@fundacionparaguaya.org.py

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