Spain: micro-loans for migrants and women

42% of the entrepreneurs who asked the Foundation ?Un Sol Món?, which depends on the second Catalan savings bank, the ?Caixa de Catalunya?, for a micro-loan between 2001 and 2004 were below the poverty threshold and many of them found themselves in a situation of professional precariousness. This trend has not changed in 2005 and 2006.

The Foundation has identified three profiles among those entrepreneurs who has asked for a micro-loan to start up their own business. The first one relates to a migrant person with a high training level and comparatively high earnings interested in businesses in the areas of hotels and restaurants, new information and communication technologies and services for companies. The second profile, the weakest one, refers to Spanish women with a very poor training level and low income who usually invest the micro-loans in businesses related to trade, hotels and restaurants. The last group is made up of by entrepreneurs who already had a business of their own when they asked for a micro-loan.

A study conducted by this Foundation has revealed that, after one year, the average survival rate for these businesses is about 80%, 70% after two years and 63% between three and four years. 36% of entrepreneurs has closed down their business since the beginning of the micro-loans programme, while 64% continue in operation.

Since 2001, 860 micro-loans have been granted amounting to 8 million Euros.

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