Empowering Women Through Microcredit for Their Entrepreneurial Projects

In Senegal, women in rural and peri-urban areas still face significant challenges in achieving financial independence, accessing financial education, and starting their own businesses.

To help address these challenges, the Jeankerber Foundation, under the aegis of the Fondation de Luxembourg, supports a network of microcredit banks across the country.

These microcredit banks support Senegalese women in launching entrepreneurial activities that can help improve their standard of living and, in turn, allow them to better feed, care for, and educate their children — while also strengthening their social status.

This network, created and managed in collaboration with European and Senegalese partners, currently supports over 4,500 women, particularly in the regions of Thiès, Fatick, and Kaolack. The long-term goal is to reach 10,000 women, helping them build entrepreneurial skills, gain confidence, and assert their financial independence.

Each microcredit bank’s capital is allocated among Women’s Empowerment Groups (Groupements de Promotion Féminine – GPF). The bank’s manager advises the leadership of each group in selecting which members should receive microloans.

The solidarity contributions associated with each microloan are not to be considered financial or commercial interest. Rather, they are a tangible expression of real solidarity and a powerful example of community-based support in action — year after year.

The partners of these projects include the Lions Club network between France and Senegal, as well as the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception from the NGO Service Pastoral du Développement.

The microcredit banks offer women the opportunity to:

• Retain personal savings from each microloan in order to strengthen their financial independence through a microproject tailored to their individual capacities and entrepreneurial spirit.
• Open personal or community savings accounts, accessible at any time, which can eventually help fund the further development of their microprojects.

The capital mobilized through the network’s existing banks is therefore used to finance these development initiatives.