Current Developments
Since the launch of the Mikrokreditfonds Deutschland in the beginning of 2010, the number of disbursed loans grew much faster than expected. The aim was to give out 2,400 loans by the end of 2011, but more than 6,600 loans were disbursed in this time.
In January 2010, 10 MFIs were cooperating with the GLS Bank. Thanks to a high demand the number of MFIs could be raised to 50 by the end of 2011. Main selection criteria for organizations to become a MFI are access to the respective target groups as well as sound perspectives to reach operational sustainability.
The Mikrokreditfonds Deutschland supports five groups of MFIs which are developing different loan products tailor-made according to the needs of special target groups - which includes among others: women working in the social and health sector, group loans, contract prefinancing within the creative sector, etc. If successfully implemented, a know-how transfer to other MFIs will guarantee the dissemination of these products throughout Germany.
In 2012 a nationwide marketing-campaign was started to raise the awareness in all different targetgroups (www.mein-mikrokredit.de).
