Espoir

Mission: “To contribute to the economic and social development, and the health of the families of women entrepreneurs, the poor microenterprises of Ecuador; the appropriation of microcredit and education, to strengthen capacity to generate income, of procurement of wellbeing to the woman, her children, and her family.”

Specialty: Small agricultural loans.

Organization Profile: Espoir, meaning “hope” in French, is an Ecuadorian non-governmental organization that was founded in 1992.  In 2001, Espoir absorbed the Program of Health Community Bank (BCS), a program executed by the Project Hope through the People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.   Today Espoir offers a sustainable holistic approach to microfinance, free and reduced cost healthcare, health education, business training, and education related to human development, gender issues and natural risk management.

Currently, Espoir’s branches operate in the provinces of Manabí, El Oro, Azuay, Loja, Guayas, Los Ríos, and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas.  Espoir has been a member of the Rural Finance Network (RFR) since 2003 and in 2005, Espoir aligned itself with Freedom from Hunger in an effort to measure indicators of health and nutrition in communities.

Espoir was one of the organizers of the First Latin American Workshop on Gender and Microfinance, held in Quito, Ecuador in 2008 and it continues to provide education regarding gender and microfinance, in addition to offering health, business, adult education, community development and human rights initiatives for its clients.  

WCCN Partner Since: 2010

Borrowers: Espoir provides loans for 46,933 individuals.  Of these clients, 97% are women and 3% are men (as of 2010).

Lending Portfolio: Espoir’s average loan size is $491 with a total lending portfolio of $19,007,152.  Commerce, small enterprise and industry consist of 88% of this portfolio, agriculture and livestock 4%, and services 8% (as of 2010).