"Although my family had been in business since 2001, we were finding that to expand our agriculture operations, we needed more financing,” explains agriculturalist Fatmir Spahić in Montenegro. His search for capital brought him to Alter Modus, one of the partner lending institutions of the European Fund for Southeast Europe.

"We started out with 1700 square meters of greenhouses, generating most of our sales in the town of Bar. All the employees were family members. The loan from MFI Alter Modus helped us expand our operations by 500 square meters of greenhouses, and we increased our workforce to include seasonal workers, too.”

"One of the best investments made using the loan was to buy two machines – a dredge and a combine. These cut down on labor time and made our business more efficient. We began selling in towns beyond Bar, and decided to look into starting an olive grove. Now, with the help of the loan, we have an olive grove of 170 trees.”

Today, Fatmir is planning to purchase a truck and replant the orchard. "This was all possible because of the quick and timely loan processing at MFI Alter Modus,” he says.