Annual Report 2010 - ProCredit Bank

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Annual Report 2010
Our Clients
Ms. Elena Duţă, 41, started her mushroom business
in the village of Surani in 2007. She first
visited several mushroom farms in Romania and
abroad to learn about the growing process and
then built a cultivation facility with her own savings.
However, because she could not afford to
equip the building with air conditioning, her company,
Devicostore, was only able to produce mushrooms
in the milder spring and autumn months.
Without special equipment, mushroom cultivation
is a slow process, so Ms. Duţă decided to
invest in upgrading her equipment in order to increase
output.
“I learned that I might be able to obtain an
investment loan from the European Agricultural
Fund for Rural Development (E.A.F.R.D.), but that
I would need to come up with the total project
amount of EUR 120,000 up front and later be
reimbursed 65% of the whole amount minus
VAT. However, I did not have the full amount and
needed to apply for a bank loan,”
she explains.
In June 2009, Ms. Duţă’s project was declared
to be eligible for funding from this programme.
Shortly thereafter, Ms. Duţă received a call from
staff at ProCredit Bank’s Ploiesti branch.
“We set up a meeting and it went very well. The
bank understood my business and was very sup-
Elena Duţă,
Mushroom Producer
portive. I looked into several offers, but ProCredit
Bank was the best choice for me.”
After her project was approved in April 2010,
Ms. Duţă received the EUR 60,000 loan that she
needed from ProCredit Bank. In the same month,
the bank granted her an additional loan of EUR
27,000. Both loans were used for infrastructural
improvements, air conditioning equipment and
working capital.
Once the cultivation facility was upgraded, production
levels skyrocketed, with the company
distributing every 6 weeks. Devicostore supplies
mushrooms to major supermarkets in Ploiesti.
Initially, Ms. Duţă employed her brother and her
sister-in-law; now, during peak production times,
Devicostore also hires several part-time workers.
She is now thinking of investing in a new cultivation
facility.
“If you want to grow your business, it is very
important to have reliable partners,”
she says.
In her case, ProCredit Bank is such a partner, providing
support, advice and funding.
“I am very happy dealing with ProCredit Bank
and recommend it to other entrepreneurs whenever
I can.”