Dutch get all the Qredit in microfinance awards

Dutch microcredit foundation Qredits has beaten five finalists from across Europe to win €50,000 and the European Microfinance Best Practices Award 2010.

The organisation, set up in 2008 by three Dutch banks, the country’s ministry of social affairs and employment, and the ministry of economic affairs, lends up to €35,000 to disadvantaged groups that have no access to traditional financial services.

Qredits fought off competition from The Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust in the UK, Crédal – Crédit Alternatif in Belgium; Macedonia’s Microcredit Foundation Horizonti and Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Partner MKF.

Judges were impressed with a new IT system put in place at the end of 2009 by Qredits, which has streamlined business. They said this was ripe for replicating across Europe to make the sector more efficient.

The organisation – the only microfinance outfit working across all of Holland - has 510 active borrowers and an outstanding loan portfolio of €9,926,335. It provides loans at fixed interest rate, currently 9.5 per cent, and a maturity maximum of ten years, as well as mentor support for at least five years.

The competition was organised by the European Microfinance Network and the Italian endowment foundation Fondazione Giordano Dell’Amore and was presented last Thursday at the Community Development Finance Association’s 2010 conference.

The prize money must be reinvested in new projects or in existing services benefiting socially excluded people.