Luxembourg and Tirana, 1 October 2024 – FED invest, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, EFSE, and Rabo Partnerships celebrated seven years of collaboration in Tirana. The event showcased the impact of EFSE’s capacity building and support in transforming FED invest into Albania’s leading rural financial institution.
Through this partnership, FED invest strengthened its governance, IT systems, and operations, empowering rural communities with financial services and fostering economic growth.
About EFSE
An impact investment fund established in 2005, the European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) aims to foster economic development and prosperity in Southeast Europe and the Eastern Neighbourhood Region. EFSE was initiated by KfW Development Bank with the financial support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European Commission. As the first public-private partnership of its kind, EFSE draws its capital from donor agencies, international financial institutions, and private institutional investors. Finance in Motion GmbH, Germany, serves as EFSE’s advisor and Hauck & Aufhäuser Fund Services S.A., Luxembourg, acts as manager. For more information on the European Fund for Southeast Europe, please visit: www.efse.lu
For more information on Finance in Motion, please visit: www.finance-in-motion.com
About FED invest
FED invest Credit and Savings Association is the first pioneering microfinance institution established in Albania as a spin-off of a pilot World Bank initiative in 1992. FED invest represents a financial cooperative organization with more than 79 thousand members served through 62 branches across the country. FED invest members include farmers, small-entrepreneurs, rural & urban families excluded from banking financial services. As a leader in providing affordable financial solutions to rural population, FED invest has a direct impact on the socio-economic development of Albania, with over 160 thousand loans and half a billion euros injected in the economy throughout its 29 years of existence.
For more information about the FED Invest please visit https://www.fedinvest.al.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the channel through which the Dutch Government communicates with foreign governments and international organisations. It coordinates and carries out Dutch foreign policy. The Ministry has two halves: its headquarters in The Hague and its missions abroad (embassies, consulates, and permanent representations).
More information: https://www.government.nl/ministries/ministry-of-foreign-affairs/about-the-ministry.
About Rabo Partnerships B.V.
Rabo Partnerships (RP), a full subsidiary of Rabobank – a Dutch leading international F&A bank - will be the principal provider of expertise in this project. RP’s mission is to provide developing societies with improved access to financial services, employing cooperative principles and banking expertise. RP wants to reach the unserved whether they are smallholders, SMEs or private individuals. To this end it provides advisory services. As a strategic partner, RP assists financial institutions and donor organisations in realizing its strategic ambitions through financial sector transformation creating sustainable institutions serving rural and underserved areas. As part of the Rabobank Group, RP creates strategic partnerships that extends Rabobank’s international network to emerging markets strongly believing in the importance of agri-potential of the local economies.
For more information on Rabo Partnerships B.V., please visit https://www.rabobank.com/rabopartnerships.
Media contact EFSE
Nusha Westhoff
Director Marketing & Communications
Mobile: +49 69 271 035-789
press@efse.lu