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SIDI’s New CEO first visit to East Africa

February 15, 2023 Comments Off on SIDI’s New CEO first visit to East Africa
Priscila (Chairperson Board), Ms. Emilie and Joan at NUMA’s Cassava drying Plant during the visit.

Emilie-DebledMs Emilie Debled- SIDI -CEO made her first visit to Soluti Finance East Africa in Kampala on the 14th of February 2023, accompanied by SIDI’s Chief Operating Officer Mr Joan Penche and Ms Anne Sophie, Head of Finance at SIDI.

International Solidarity for Development and Investment (SIDI) is a French-based social investment institution created in 1983 by the French NGO CCFD-Terre Solidaire. SIDI strives to contribute to building a more inclusive economy to give poor populations a chance to participate in their development. SIDI owns 99.8% of Soluti Finance East Africa making Soluti Finance East Africa a Subsidiary of SIDI.

Ms. Emilie in blue trouser with staff of ACPCU and SOLUTI Team during the visit at ACPCUThe visit was one of the annual SIDI visits to its subsidiaries. During her visit, she was glad to learn how Soluti Finance East Africa is fighting poverty among the unprivileged and hard-to-reach communities through supporting small and emerging Microfinance Institutions, SACCOs and Producer Organizations/ Small and Medium Enterprises.

Soluti currently supports 30 partners with 26 MFIs/ Saccos and 4 SMEs in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Soluti focuses majorly on financial services and non-financial services including capacity building and advisory services.

Priscila (Chairperson Board), Ms. Emilie and Joan at NUMA’s Cassava drying Plant during the visit.
Priscila (Chairperson Board), Ms. Emilie and Joan at NUMA’s Cassava drying Plant during the visit.

Together with the SOLUTI team and a board member, Ms Emilie made visits to four SOLUTI partners (2 SMEs and 2 MFIs) to understand how the partners are serving and empowering the underprivileged members of the community to come out of extreme poverty. The new CEO visited NUMA Feeds Limited where she advised NUMA management to invest in renewable energy to reduce the cost of running the factory.

She also visited the Ankole Coffee Producers Cooperative Union (ACPCU). In a meeting with the staff of the Cooperative, she emphasised how ACPCU could support farmers to produce high-quality coffee and improve the quantity of production given the challenges of climate change.

sidi-and-soluti-finance
Ms. Emilie in blue trouser with staff of ACPCU and SOLUTI Team during the visit at ACPCU

On the same day, she held a meeting with one of the Soluti’s MFIs in Bushenyi District. At Butuuro Peoples Sacco, she met with the Management of the Sacco to understand some of the challenges being faced in serving rural low-income earners. She encouraged them to continue serving the underserved communities and ensure comprehensive financial inclusion. She mentioned that the management of the Sacco should emphasize ESG as it is becoming a global issue, especially the environmental aspects of ESG.

The partner staff appreciated her visit and the work of Soluti Finance especially during the COVID-19 period when Soluti rescheduled their loan and extended capacity-building support to manage the difficult period. The capacity building was in areas of upgrading MIS, mobile banking and pressure management during the COVID-19 period.