La banque d'un monde qui change 2004 - BNP Paribas

ADIE3839Banque de Détail en FranceA non-profit organisation providing micro loans for business projectsA Chain of Solidarity to Fight against ExclusionBen-Anna PadmoreManagerAfrican Beauty Salon - Client of BNP Paribas - Bourges (Central France)Since 15 January 2005 the African women of Bourges and the surrounding areas no longer have to make the longtrip up to Paris to find specialist skin treatments and stylists able to tackle the latest Afro hairstyles. They now haveBen-Anna Padmore’s hair and cosmetics salon. Despite having “solid market research” to support her case, it took theyoung woman of Afro-American and Liberian descent over a year to get the go-ahead on the project – “having beenrejected by the banks, I found out about Adie when I was out shopping one day”. Things moved pretty fast after that.Being convinced of the merits of such a project, Adie proposed a loan of EUR 7,500 and the beauty salon openedits doors just one month later. “But it didn’t stop there – Adie continues to offer me advice and support on all sortsof levels – on administrative and accounting questions for example.” Since 1989 Adie has been applying, in France,the micro-loan principle – a scheme initially developed in the third world – by rallying the support of a chain ofpartners, including banks (with BNP Paribas from the start), the Government, local authorities, the European Union,as well as private donors. The average loan organised by Adie amounts to around EUR 2,000, and the results speakfor themselves: in fifteen years close to 25,000 companies and 30,000 jobs have been created. And “a small cornerof African cheer” has been brought to the heart of Bourges.