Enda Tamweel is a pioneering Tunisian micro finance company working to increase financial inclusion to underserved populations, especially women, young people, and agricultural entrepreneurs. With its widespread branch network, including in rural areas, Enda Tamweel is also a key ally in enabling SANAD to channel financing to small businesses across Tunisia.
SANAD’s support of Enda Tamweel began with an equity investment of more than USD 7 million in 2018. Since then, Enda Tamweel has provided tailored business loans to more than 400,000 micro enterprises. In addition, the SANAD Technical Assistance Facility and Enda Tamweel have been working together to expand the institution’s outreach to agricultural producers in particular. This involved taking a systematic approach to Enda Tamweel’s agricultural portfolio management.
Together, SANAD and Enda Tamweel trained more than 30 staff, from senior management to loan officers, in the specific needs of agricultural businesses. An agrifinance strategy was developed to manage the risks of the agricultural portfolio through reasoned diversification, as well as to strengthen institutional agricultural skills and implement new technological tools that facilitate decentralized operations. And finally, concrete measures were undertaken to reach out to agricultural clients by opening new branches in rural areas, creating more mobile branches, and increasing the efficiency of Enda Tamweel’s rural operations. By the end of 2020, rural and agricultural clients comprised one-third of Enda Tamweel’s gross lending portfolio.
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