Supporting financial inclusion in Palestine

Faten started its activities in 1998 and is today the leading Palestinian microfinance institution (MFI) for the number of clients served and the size of its loan portfolio. Faten mainly targets microenterprises in the West Bank and Gaza.

The MFI benefits from an excellent knowledge of its market segment and a management team with a long-term strategic vision, which enables it to fulfil its social mission.

Palestine for Credit & Development, FATEN, is a pioneering national non-profit microfinance institution in the Palestinian Territories. FATEN started its activities in 1998 and is today the leading Palestinian microfinance institution for the number of clients served and the size of its loan portfolio. This institution provides a wide range of high-quality and sustainable financial services, thus contributing to the financial inclusion of Palestinian families and local economic development. 

The project involves the allocation of a second senior credit line for USD 8m to Faten to support the development of its loan portfolio.

The client has received technical assistance through a EUR 100,000 grant to strengthen its digitalization strategy with the implementation of a client relations management tool. 

The institution FATEN has embarked on an ambitious digital transformation strategy. Proparco is supporting this digital transformation through the provision of expertise to create Customer Relationship Management (CRM). FATEN wishes to build its own CRM rather than buying a separate solution.

The main expected impacts of the project are as follows:

• Access to a microcredit for 1,029 microentrepreneurs 
• About 27 direct jobs and about 891 indirect jobs supported
• With 63% of women employees and 37% of women in the MFI’s management team, 30% of this financing qualifies for the 2X Challenge initiative to reduce gender inequalities. 

The project will contribute to SDG 1 (“No poverty”), SDG 5 (“Gender equality”), SDG 8 (“Decent work and economic growth”) and SDG 10 (“Reduced inequalities”). 

The tool developed with Proparco’s co-financing will improve the MFI’s performance and effectiveness. It will also improve the quality of relations with FATEN’s 26,000 clients through a customized customer experience. The most vulnerable and marginalized people (bottom 40) in the Palestinian Territories will ultimately benefit from this service improvement.