Crédal

The Crédal is a Belgian cooperative created in 1984 and active in the field of solidarity finance in Wallonia and Brussels .

History

The origins of the Crédal go back to the beginning of the 1980s , in the fight against apartheid ¹ .

The Crédal was first developed around the financing of social economy projects . He then embarked on counseling and coaching. It has also applied the principles of microfinancein French – speaking Belgium to counter the banking exclusion of micro – entrepreneurs ² .

In 2003, the cooperative counts 700 cooperators, which total close to 7 million euros of investment ¹ .

At the beginning of 2006, the Crédal has 891 co-operators and around twenty employees ² . The same year, after having collaborated with Fortis through the “Cigale savings”, and with the cooperative bank BACOB , the Crédal began a collaboration with the foundation Dexia ³ .

At the end of 2014 , Crédal funds reached more than 27 million euros ⁴ . In 2013, the company granted around a thousand credits. These funds have enabled 173 social organizations to develop various projects, 136 micro-entrepreneurs have created their own jobs and 645 people were able to use a personal credit ⁵ .

Sectors of activity

• Ethical investment: the Crédal lists about 2,500 investors / cooperators at the end of 2014 ⁴ .
• Alternative credit: financing associations and companies with social, societal or environmental added value, (future) excluded entrepreneurs and low-income individuals.
• Accompaniment: advice on social economy and support for entrepreneurs who want to create their activity.

Notes and references