Limited access to capital, complicated procedures and regulations, insufficient collateral are among the problems entrepreneurs complain the most after contacting commercial banks and public institutions.
Micro-credits disbursed within the programme are meant not only to satisfy current financial needs of micro firms but they also have educational dimension, as they are directed to entrepreneurs who have never before used an external source of finance. Therefore, thy are also aimed at preparing businesspeople to taking commercial bank credits.
Programme’s goal is also to help individuals who have hardly any chance to find a job and an additional income to provide for their families, as well as to support entrepreneurship among young people, from poor families, not prepared to using borrowed capital to finance their economic activity.
The programme also supports the creation of new rural jobs outside of agriculture. The experience shows it is an effective instrument to counteract unemployment. The Rural Entrepreneurship Promotion Programme (REP) was the first in Poland to offer micro-loans to rural entrepreneurs. So far, 4'959 loans totalling over 102,5 million PLN have been disbursed.
In order to reach the multitude of those classified as “hidden” unemployment, the Foundation co-operates closely with local authorities, labour market institutions and agricultural advisory centres. FDPA co-operates also with banking institutions and local organisations in order to tailor the programme to particular need of communities and reach potential borrowers. The FDPA’s fund of over 36 million PLN is continuously increased through grants and through temporarily managed capital of other institutions (World Bank’s resources used under the Rural Development Programme or the Ministry of Economy and Labour’s resource under the Job for Graduate Programme)
REP sponsors: BKHF, Caritas, European Union, Levis, PAEF, Polska Agencja Rozwoju Przedsiębiorczości, Unidea Foundation.