Key Turning Points in FINCA's History

Working with farmers in Bolivia in 1984, John Hatch — a Fulbright-trained economist and international development expert—conceives a small loan program that puts the poor in charge. The program allows them to obtain loans without collateral and gives groups of neighbors the power to collectively disburse, invest and collect loan capital as they see fit.

John calls these groups “Village Banks.” His first pilot program is enormously successful.

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• In 1985, John Hatch creates FINCA, the Foundation for International Community Assistance.
  
• Opening a Village Banking program in El Salvador, FINCA focuses for the first time on providing credit to low-income women involved in commerce and petty trade. The benefits to the children of these women—better nutrition, health, and education—are immediately apparent.
  
• Encouraged by that success, FINCA establishes new Village Banking programs in Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and Haiti. 

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• FINCA enters Africa, the continent most affected by severe poverty, opening a Village Banking program in Uganda. Demand for FINCA loans is great.
  
• FINCA enters the former Soviet Union, opening a Village Banking program in Kyrgyzstan. Despite widespread unemployment, lack of familiarity with entrepreneurship, and an economy in which credit is virtually unknown, FINCA succeeds at stimulating the economy at the grass roots.
  
• By the end of its first decade, FINCA serves nearly 58,000 families on three continents. 

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• In 1997, FINCA co-sponsors the first global Microcredit Summit. Over 2,000 policymakers, practitioners, and donors discuss ways to rapidly expand the reach of microcredit programs.
  
• FINCA establishes a mechanism through which it can provide letters of credit to its programs, enabling them to borrow commercial capital. This allows programs to greatly increase their outreach while channeling commercial capital to the poor.
  
• FINCA Nicaragua and FINCA Honduras become the first programs to cover all operating costs with interest income from loans, proving that microfinance can be sustainable.
  
• FINCA establishes new programs in Guatemala, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and the Samara region of Russia, and is among the first economic development organizations to enter Kosovo after the June 1999 cease-fire.
  
• To better serve these diverse economies, FINCA begins offering a variety of loan products, savings plans, and insurance.
  
• FINCA attracts a broad and diverse base of support, including businesses, community groups, and churches, many of whom have used the Village Banking model to launch their own programs.
  

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• FINCA Kyrgyzstan transforms into the FINCA Microcredit Company, becoming the region’s first formal financial services institution for low-income entrepreneurs.
  
• FINCA Ecuador and FINCA Uganda follow FINCA Kyrgyzstan’s lead, becoming formal financial institutions that serve the working poor
  
• FINCA’s unique business model means that its affiliates are wholly-owned subsidiaries who use both donations and investments to build equity. This equity allows them to access commercial capital, which they in turn lend to poor clients.
  

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• The United Nations proclaims 2005 the Year of Microcredit.
  Microfinance is an idea whose time has come.
        Kofi Anan, former United Nations Secretary-General
  
• The Nobel Committee acknowledges that microcredit contributes to the cause of world peace by awarding the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank.
  Lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty. Micro-credit is one such means. Development from below also serves to advance democracy and human rights. 
        Norwegian Nobel Committee on awarding the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize
  
• In 2007, FINCA launches the Village Banking Campaign, committing to reach one million of the world’s working poor with financial services.
  
• FINCA opens its program in Jordan, inaugurated in 208 by Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, FINCA Board member emeritus
  
• FINCA receives the highest ratings from independent evaluators, including Worth Magazine, the American Institute of Philanthropy, and Charity Navigator.
  
• December 2008 - FINCA International broadens outreach to donors and investors by launching UK affiliate.
  
• November 2009 - FINCA opens its Canadian affiliate
  
• 2010 – With FINCA serving over 725,000 clients across Africa, Eurasia, Latin America and the Greater Middle East, clients and staff across five continents honor a historic milestone for the organization—its 25th year of providing life-changing small loans to help struggling families to break the cycle of poverty!
  

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