The European Investment Fund (EIF) and Towarzystwo Inwestycji Spoleczno-Ekonomicznych SA (TISE) have signed a Social Entrepreneurship guarantee agreement aimed at supporting at least 60 social enterprises in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe under the European Commission's EU Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI).

This new guarantee agreement allows TISE to provide a total of EUR 8 million to at least 60 social entrepreneurs, many of whom face difficulties in accessing credit from traditional banking sources. Social entrepreneurs in sectors including recruitment, fair trade and targeted child care will be able to benefit from loans at a reduced interest rate, providing limited collateral under the EU supported programme.

Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, Marianne Thyssen, commented: "Through this EUR 8 million EU funding, TISE will be able to offer loans on preferential conditions to over 60 social enterprises in Poland. By providing them a greater access to finance, we contribute to the development of social enterprises in key sectors for social inclusion, such as education, job promotion and fair trade. This shows again that the European Commission is fully committed to combat poverty and improve working conditions in Europe, with particular efforts directed towards the most vulnerable people on the labour market."

The EaSI Guarantee scheme was launched in June 2015 and is funded by the European Commission and managed by the European Investment Fund. It bears no cost to the final beneficiaries. Social enterprises wishing to apply for a loan with an EaSI guarantee can directly contact TISE. EIF will not provide direct financial support to enterprises but will implement the facility through local financial intermediaries, such as microfinance, social finance and guarantee institutions, as well as banks active across the EU-28 and additional countries that are participating in the EaSI programme. These intermediaries will deal with interested parties directly to provide support under the EaSI Guarantee.

About the Programme for Employment and Social Innovation

Under the EU Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI), the European Commission supports microfinance and social entrepreneurship finance with an overall envelope of EUR 193 million for the period 2014-2020. The aim is to increase access to microfinance, which includes microcredit i.e. loans of up to EUR 25,000, in particular for vulnerable persons and micro-enterprises. In addition, for the first time, the European Commission will also support social enterprises through loans of up to EUR 500,000. The microfinance and social entrepreneurship support will be first implemented through the EaSI Guarantee, which will enable financial intermediaries to reach out to (potential) micro-entrepreneurs that would not have been able to gain finance otherwise due to risk considerations. The European Commission has selected EIF to implement the EaSI Guarantee.

About the European Investment Fund

The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank group. Its central mission is to support Europe's micro, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance. EIF designs and develops venture and growth capital, guarantees and microfinance instruments which specifically target this market segment. In this role, EIF fosters EU objectives in support of innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth, and employment.

For further information on EU microfinance and social entrepreneurship support please refer to:

Easi Programme

EU support to social entrepreneurship

About Towarzystwo Inwestycji Społeczno-Ekonomicznych SA (TISE)

TISE SA is a loan fund for NGOs, social enterprises, microenterprises and SMEs. It was established in 1991. Today it is owned by the French bank Credit Cooperatif, which has financed social economy projects for over 120 years. Initially a venture capital fund, granting also credit guarantees, in 2002 TISE joined the European Federation of Ethical and Alternative Banks - FEBEA, formed by 22 institutions financing social and ethical projects. Since 2008 TISE has been actively granting loans to NGOs, microenterprises and SMEs from its own funds and funds provided by Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (Jeremie initiative). TISE is also the only financial intermediary of Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego in the pilot project co-financed by the European Social Fund for social entrepreneurs. TISE is also providing micro-loans financed by a credit line from EIF (EPMF Progress). Between 2008 and 2015 TISE granted 2,500 loans totalling EUR 85m.

Press contact:

EIF: David Yormesor, tel: +352 42 66 88 346, e-mail: d.yormesor@eif.org

TISE SA: Michal Radziwill, michal.radziwill@tise.pl,
Krzysztof Rykowski, krzysztof.rykowski@tise.pl,
tel: +48 22 636 07 40, www.tise.pl, facebook/esfundusz

EU Commission: Christian WIGAND, +32 2 296 22 53, Sara SOUMILLION +32 2 296 70 94

HIGHLIGHTS

EaSI Financial Instruments