(Micro) Finance Institutions
Social TRade methodologies offer three major advantages for Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs):
- Cheaper credit. When a company receives a credit, it will spend this credit in large part with other member companies of the C3 Circuit. These secondary companies therefore benefit indirectly by this granting of credit and there is a multiplier effect within the member system. The system administration pays a small fee for this feature or the member companies contribute to guarantee the credit. For example this is being done in the C3 CompRaS network in Porto Alegre in Brazil.
- Increasing outreach in rural areas. This is done by establishing a closed internet based network of payments. The Social TRade Cyclos software also allows mobile phone payments. New features are being developed as POS payments in local shops and IVR banking via public phones when there is no Internet connection. State of the art technology therefore allows small local shops to become an outlet for the MFI.
- Additional low costs loans. Combining credit lines through C3 methodology offers the option to create additional funds. This was tested for example in Suchitoto in El Salvador with the Redes network.