Fundefir – Latin Americas

Foundation for Rural Financing (Fundefir) is a civil nonprofit association aimed at promoting economic and social development of communities and their residents. Fundefir created a financial management model called “Bankomunals” with K, based on the exclusive use of funds from members of community groups as a source of funding.

Currently, there are about 150 groups or Bankomunales, in 9 states of Venezuela, and the model has been replicated in more than 10 countries on 4 continents: Spain, Senegal, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Argentina, Peru, Indonesia, Italy and Portugal.

Short description social enterprise

Fundefir is a social enterprise that promotes education, inclusion and the financial well-being of families, improving old informal associative mechanisms widely used by low-income populations and creating an alternative and complementary path to banking.

Short description solution/tool

“Bankomunales” are community-based organizations where members pool their capital to provide financial and investment services to each other. They function as small, member-owned banks that offer loans to the members for various activities, not by turn but when they need to. One of their key advantages is their agility in extending credit without the usual challenges and requirements of traditional commercial banks. This model relies on micro-investment, utilizing funds from the group’s members themselves and, if members choose to do so, these funds can generate profits.

BK-Undertakes is a financial education and entrepreneurship program based on the new theories of “Behavioral Economics”, also called “Emotional Economics”. The BK-App is a mobile application that each person uses on their own cell phone. It is designed for users to input information directly from their phones. The app directs each user’s information to a central database but divides it into “groups.” This way, each group has its own data, individually inputted by its members. Nowadays, all the group information can be inputted individually using a WhatsApp chatbot. Anyone who wants touse this Bk-app from anywhere in the world, only needs to download the app and adjust the chatbots to their own language.

THE BK-Club is  a subscription system that gives community members the opportunity to access goods and services that help build financial resilience. With a low cost monthly subscription you can access different services:

• Insurance adapted to your family needs
• business insurance
• business credit
• Home Improvement Credit
• Financial and business education programs with completely new content and based on the new theories of “The economics of conduct”
• Discounts on medical appointments and laboratory tests
• Access to discounts on recreation (cinemas, parks, trips, etc.)

Available tools which could be useful for partners to communities, or change agents based in communities:

• some introduction video’s to Bankomunales (in English & Spanish): http://en.fundefir.org/videos/
• More information on the BK-Clubs: www.mibkclub.com

Where to find more

• https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/fellow/salomon-raydan
• http://www.fundefir.org/
• 7 principles to self-sustaining self-financed groups in the free book “The other Microfinance” (page 75-80): http://en.fundefir.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/The-Other-Micrifinance.pdf

Similar tools (different tools, different organization, different region & language)

• Have a look at Winkomun / ACAF

Who’s best to contact

Salomón Raydan, founder and president

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