Minister of Finance Natalie Jaresko welcomed launching of a social entrepreneurship loan program

Minister of Finance Natalie Jaresko welcomed the launching of an innovative, local-currency denominated, low-interest Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF) and Oschadbank loan program providing finance to social enterprises.

On behalf of the Government Minister of Finance Natalie Jaresko expressed a deep gratitude to Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF) and the U.S. Government for their support which helps Ukraine's Government to overcome the daunting social and economic challenges that Ukraine faces in conditions of scarce state budget resources.

WNISEF’s and Oschadbank's low-interest loan program will provide accessible credit to social enterprises totally amounting 100 million hryvnas. Social enterprises will primarily benefit disadvantaged women, disabled persons, internally displaced persons from the Southern and Eastern regions of Ukraine, and others.

"Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. Rather than leaving societal needs to the government or business sectors, social entrepreneurs solve the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution. Businesses that support social good and are not focused solely on profit generation create a new way to improve our community and the lives of our fellow citizens", said NatalieJaresko.

Minister of Finance spoke in favor of such initiative because under circumstances of scarce state budget resource, it is important to create possibilities for citizen's financial independence. «I want to congratulate all of us that together we have made an important step forward to solve daunting social and economic issues that Ukraine faces today. I am confident that this social entrepreneurship loan program will allow Ukrainians to feel themselves secure and independent", concluded Natalie Jaresko.

The loans will be financed from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) $30 million technical assistance program provided to the WNIS Enterprise Fund.

Key facts:

- Program will provide individual loans of between UAH 250 thousand and UAH 2.5 million

- Crediting period up to 3 years for the purchase of equipment and immovable property and up to 2 years for increasing the current assets

- Fixed interest rate for the entire crediting period is 5% or 10% p. a., which will be decided by the Program’s loan committee individually for each application

- Loan purpose: Purchase of equipment, property, increase of current assets

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