Social Issue

According to data from the World Bank and the National Institute of Statistics of Guatemala, 44% of the population in the country’s rural municipalities lives in poverty. The data adds that the Guatemalan highland area is one of the hardest hit by famine. In Totonicapán, the town where Crediguate was born, 77.5% of the population lives in poverty and 41% in extreme poverty.

Our Response

Crediguate was founded as an NGO in 1988 in Totonicapán (Guatemala) by a group of Quiche chiefs, to help indigenous communities in the highland area through loans of social and financial services. In 1993, they began offering microcredits with seed capital from the Canadian Cooperation Department and a public development fund.

Crediguate’s objective is to provide innovative financial services to disadvantaged communities in rural areas, granting loans (in quetzales) to both individuals and groups. These are mainly destined to the promotion of business activities, but also to the purchase of production goods and, increasingly, to the improvement of households by means of loans for this purpose, which already represent more than 40% of the total. In April 2017, Crediguate had more than 5,000 active borrowers, with an average credit value of $1,880.

Expected Social Impact

With this investment of the Netri Foundation, it is estimated that Crediguate will be able to provide 90 microloans in the country, with the idea of empowering the Guatemalan population in generating employment.