During this period this non-profit-making foundation has financed more than 350 entrepreneurial projects in Ecuador, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Cameroon and has, moreover, provided special donations in emergency situations like that seen in Haiti after the earthquake that took place in 2010 and the construction of a maternity ward in Kisingani to help adolescent mothers.
During this period it has granted more than 350 micro-credits at zero intrest in Ecquador, Cameroon and the Congo.
This is a novel experience in university circles due to the collaboration of three entities that have traditionally trmained separate: Aviva, ESIC and the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Last year it initiated a collaboration with the Dreamtellers Foundation, with the aim of accumulating funds to help build a house of refuge and maternity ward for the new born and small children in the orphanage of Kisangani (Democractic Republic of the Congo).
The Orbayu Foundation was created in December 2009 with the participation of ESIC, the Congregation of the Fathers of the Restoration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (SCJ) and Aviva with the aim of contributing to the social and economic development of the most impoverished areas of Latin America and Africa, by means of granting micro-credits. At the present time, ESIC and AVIVA have found a shared area of experience in Orbayu whence they can offer society the best of their knowledge and resources supplying accessibility to all who use it – both employees and students- in an atmosphere providing solidarity and generosity expressed thanks to what they have, know and learn.
During this period this non-profit-making foundation has financed more than 350 entrepreneurial projects in Ecuador, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Cameroon and has, moreover, provided special donations in emergency situations like that seen in Haiti after the earthquake that took place in 2010 and the construction of a maternity ward in Kisingani to help adolescent mothers.
The micro-credits, whose refund level stands at 98%, are granted without property guarantees and at a zero rate of interest, and the amounts concerned range between 200 and 1,000 Euros, which are invested in projects linked to agriculture (land tenancies and the acquisition of agricultural goods), food, canteens and dressmaking.
Since then until the present the foundation has granted 274 micro-credits in Bahía de Caráquez (Ecuador) and 66 micro-credits in Quito reaching a total amount of 95,300 Euros.
In Cameroon it has granted 11 micro-credits for a sum of 9,150 Euros. Apart from the micro-credits, the foundation has granted 20,300 Euros to build a hostel for penniless students in Bahía de Caráquez and 52,000 Euros to build a maternity hospital in Kisingani, for young mothers from the city orphanage. During the week the centre houses 20 students from the rural areas of Bahia so that they can have access to the University studies or professional training available in the city.
For Simón Reyes Martínez Córdova, the director general of the ESIC: “We are very satisfied with the work accomplished by the Foundation during this period and with the warm welcome that we have received in these countries. We have set in motion a strategy for collaboration that allows on the one hand for the individual development of those who receive the finance and, on the other, the growth in values of those whose collaboration makes it all possible.”
For Ignacio Izquierdo, managing director of Aviva: “Our collaboration with ESIC and the SCJ has been very satisfactory for all concerned and our undertaking remains as firm as when we started. Benefiting projects of this kind is fundamental in order to achieve social and economic improvements among those who are most indigent.”
What is a micro-credit?
They are small loans linked to entrepreneurial projects but aimed at impoverished borrowers, who are unable to accede to traditional means of finance. Micro-credits allow many people without resources to finance work projects that then enable them to earn. Those who request a micro-credit must have an entrepreneurial plan that though modest and simple is also realistic and capable of generating a significant change in their living standards.
The process of Orbayu micro-credits
Their structure is two fold:
- The Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (SCJ) identifies the beneficiaries while ESIC and Aviva contribute by obtaining funds.
- SCJ delivers the amounts, follows up the business plan and controls the repayment of the quotas.
Each request for a micro-credit is entered on the Orbayu web (www.orbayu.org) so that any internet user can get to know all the projects that are seeking finance, help those that seem most attractive with donations and check their progress.
At the end of the year, the amount that the borrowers return is invested in more far reaching projects (building dams for irrigation, schools, sanitation systems for sewage, libraries,etc.) always at the request of the communities receiving the micro-credits. Orbayu's intention is to encourage the entrepreneurial spirit, benefit the communities whose members comply with their undertakings and improve the conditions of the community, so as to increase the possibilities of success of the new entrepreneurs.
Location of the actions of the Orbayu Foundation
Quito (Ecuador)
The Orbayu Foundation is situated to the south of the capital of Ecuador, in a district peopled by very simple individuals who have come from the countryside. The work of the religious orders of the SCJ there is pastoral and includes social welfare. They have not been there for long but they are highly involved in the real needs of those around them.
In March 2010 Orbayu began to make finance available to those requesting micro-credits in this area.
Bahía de Caráquez (Ecuador)
Orbayu makes its presence felt in Bahía de Caráquez, the coast of the Pacific Ocean, in a very poor region regularly lashed by hurricanes and shaken by earthquakes. The work carried out by the members of the religious orders of the SCJ is pastoral and social, sanitation, childcare and rebuilding districts, etc.
In January 2010 micro-credits began to be granted and more than 80 families received the first of these in a mass delivery.
Nkongsamba (Cameroon)
Orbayu has extended its radius, taking micro-credits to Nkongsamba, a city of 115,000 inhabitants situated to the south-east of Cameroon, where SCJ missionaries have been working for 20 years. In this case the micro-credits are granted to people with handicaps of all kinds: motor disabilities, failing eyesight, etc.
-Ends-
For more information:
www.orbayu.org
Juan Pablo Arrieta
ESIC Communications Director
91.452.41.08
juanpablo.arrieta@esic.es
www.esic.es
Laura Villuendas
Communications Officer of Aviva
91.297.18.17
laura.villuendas@aviva.es
www.aviva.es
About Aviva
Aviva is one of the main insurance groups in Europe and, in Spain, it is one of the market leaders in life and pensions. In Spain Aviva sells its products through professional agencies (Aviva Life and Pensions and Pelayo Life) and by means of strategic alliances with some of the main financial institutions. Aviva is the sixth insurance company in the world, operating in 21 countries and providing services for more than 43 million clients.
About ESIC
ESIC, a private centre founded in 1965 by the Religious Order of Priests for the Restoration of the Heart of Jesus, is the leading business school in Spain for training for advanced courses in Marketing in higher education and responds by means of an ensemble of different types of activity (graduate, postgraduate, executive education, publishing and languages), to the present needs of companies in a competitive environment, by the training of professionals able to analyse, reflect, decide and act responsibly at all levels in the company. Their centres are situated in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Saragossa, Pamplona, Seville and Curitiba (Brazil) and provides postgraduate programmes together with other prestigious institutions in Malaga, Granada and Bilbao.
ESIC is a founder member of AEEDE (Spanish Association of schools of Business Administration) an accredited member of the Executive EMBA Council and a member, among others, of the EFMD (European Foundation for Management Development), CLADEA (Latin American Council for Schools of Management), AACSB The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), AECE (Spanish Association of Electronic Commerce), FECEMD (Spanish Federation of Electronic Business and Direct Marketing), AEC (Spanish Association for Quality) and CEG (Club of Excellence in Management).