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The Mutuelles Communitaires de Croissance (MC2)

This article describes the experience of CCEI Bank in Cameroon which has set out to provide appropriate and sustainable financial services to rural people and entrepreneurs. Their strategy involves the creation of village mutual funds which are linked to CCEI, a commercial bank, and includes a policy of maintaining low interest rates.

The strategy involves the following actors:

• Village populations who are the only ones able to take the initiative to establish a new Mutuelle communitaire de croissance.
• The CCEI Bank, which provides training for the MC2 agents, loans for the development of the mutual fund, financial auditing and cash security.
• ADAF – an NGO – which assists the MC2 with financial accounting and training of staff in management techniques, marketing and rural sociology, and acts as intermediary between the MC2 and national or international organisations.

Each MC2 is a mutual fund, owned and managed by its members, and provides the following services:

1. Ordinary savings accounts
2. Current accounts that can be used to make transfers and cash cheques
3. Flash cash accounts – deposit certificates created by CCEI Bank, which enable holders to receive “flash cash” travellers cheques.

The MC2 state that reducing poverty is one of their objectives but their services are available to the whole village population. They make loans for both productive and social purposes but have a very rigorous loan appraisal procedure. The MC2 network has also made an agreement with an insurance company to offer members insurance products.

• Resource type Article
• Author Mees, M.; Bomda, J.
• Year of Publication2001
• RegionGlobal
• LanguageEnglish
• Number of pages8 pp.
• EditionZoom Microfinance
• Keywords Bank Linkage, Mutual Fund