Attivismo civico & Terzo settore
France : Solidary financial institutions help unemployed entrepreneurs
The provision of financial support to people who were once unemployed and want to set up their own business is no longer a marginal activity, and it works with citizen's savings
di Zesst
When talking about business creation today, everyone agrees that it is market failures that prevent entrepreneurs from accessing funds from mainstream flows.
Micro-credit systems and citizen?s saving have become more and more influential over the years in reversing the nightmare of getting loans to start up a business. According to Finansol – the main French portal on social and solidarity saving – one billion ?ethical? euros have been collected in France, contributing to the creation of 22 thousand jobs and the financing of 12, 400 enterprises.
The fifth edition of a survey released in mid-September brings one other impressive figure: in 2007, one out of every 6 unemployed entrepreneurs has found financial support within solidary financial institutions.
The involvement of some banks like the Crédit coopératif is giving a major impetus to this trend. On the other hand, the sustainable development issue seems to be on the road and attracts big media attention also because of the French government's commitments this fall with the Grenelle Environment Summit.
More info:
www.finansol.org
