196 Pageviews Read Stories
- EIN 13-3836581
- (212) 337-8547
- 1412 Broadway 21st Floor Suite Ma12 New York NY 10018-9243 USA
- www.sharedinterest.org
- Add to Favorites
Promote This Nonprofit
More Nonprofits
Nonprofit Overview
Causes: Economic Development, International, International Economic Development, International Human Rights, Microfinance
Mission: The organization seeks to promote social reconstruction in south africa and neighboring countries by facilitating access to credit for low-income borrowers through the provision of loan guarantees to mainstream banks and other financial institutions. As these lenders have historically been reluctant to extend credit to a sector of the population they consider un-bankable, the majority of southern african citizens, absent the guarantees, would continue to be economically marginalized.
Programs: During the 2016 tax year, the organization had outstanding as many as 25 agreements guaranteeing commercial loans to small and growing businesses, agricultural enterprises and co-ops, microfinance institutions and low-cost housing organizations in the southern africa region. Twenty of this number supported enterprises in south africa, our principal focus of activity; the others were in mozambique and swaziland, two countries bordering on south africa. The aggregate exposure involved in the guarantees totaled approximately $11,985,575 in the year. Because the credit facilities arranged by shared interest were limited to no more than 75% of the loans they backed, the guarantees did unlock total lending of sums in excess of the stated amount by virtue of the risk-sharing agreed in the contracts between local institutions and the organization working through its local partner, the thembani international guarantee fund. Additionally, the guarantee program, implemented by means of the proven trans-border mechanism of standby bank letters of credit, continued to give confidence to institutions in south africa other than traditional banks, such as quasi-governmental funding agencies and union pension funds, to put capital at risk in the sphere of small business finance and lending to economically-disenfranchised individuals. Collateralizing the letters of credit, were the us-based investments of the organization, derived from loans and donations by american individuals and institutions whose willingness to risk capital for a charitable purpose has worked significantly to mitigate the economic marginalization of a class people once dismissed as utterly unbankable. Cumulatively, since the inception of shared interest, more than 2,000,000 low-income persons have benefited from the organization's guarantees.