About us

Making the voice of European MFIs heard

Microfinance is a very diverse field but it is, nevertheless, context-specific. Microfinance in Western, Eastern, Southern, and Northern European countries evolves in very different environments. EMN strives to listen to the expectations and needs of its members and to find common ground between them all, in order to represent them as well as possible and to speak with one voice.

The Network is always keen to meet new microfinance and social inclusion specialists (academics, researchers, trainers, experts, etc.) who can participate in studies, analyses, evaluation missions, and training sessions. 

Please contact EMN for more information on its activities and on the different ways in which you could actively contribute to the development of the Network and of European microfinance in general.

History

EMN was launched in 2003 by its founding members: Adie - France, NEF - UK and evers&jung - Germany, and with the support of the European Commission and the French Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC). 

In December 2012, EMN transferred its activities from France to Belgium. Under Belgian law, EMN constitutes an aisbl (“association internationale sans but lucratif” or “international non-profit association”). For more information on the aisbl, download the Bylaws. 

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Mission and Vision

Mission

Our mission is to advocate for transparency and good governance in the European microfinance sector, while developing capacity building, promoting best practices and fostering research within and beyond the membership.

Vision

We envision a society in which those excluded by the conventional banking system have access to a full range of financial and support services, empowering them to finance personal needs, consolidate existing businesses, and start new ventures to improve their lives.

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The Board

The European Microfinance Network is administered by a Board of Directors made up of a maximum of seven organisations, chosen from the network's list of members. At least two thirds of the board members must be social purpose organisations (MFIs or "practitioners") that deliver financial services to the underserved or that facilitate access to such services. No more than two members can be from the same country.

Each Board member is appointed for a three-year term and can be re-elected a maximum of two times.

The proceedings of the latest Board election, that took place during the EMN General Assembly on 14 October 2021 in Brussels, Belgium, are available here.

  • Laure Coussirat-Coustère

    President of the Board

    Laure Coussirat-Coustère joined Adie in 1999. Mobilized on field activities with entrepreneurs, she developed the action of Adie in Seine-Saint-Denis (Paris region) for 5 years, with a particular focus on deprived areas of this vulnerable territory. She set up the 1st Adie branch in the department in 2001. She was in charge of fundraising (local governments) and onboarding and training of volunteers for Paris region. She then joined the Adie headquarters in 2004 to manage the network in metropolitan France and overseas, develop innovative distribution projects in deprived urban and rural areas, and create new financial services (personal microcredit, microinsurance).

    She specialized in the management of central services: call centers, recovery, digital marketing, then moved to manage the financial teams of Adie from 2012. Since 2018, as Deputy Director General, she supervises the finance department, the human resources department, the credit risk department, and the information systems department.

    Laure replaced Elwin Groenevelt as President of the EMN Board in October 2021.

    Profile picture for user Laure Coussirat-Coustère

  • Dominique De Crayencour

    Independent Member

    Dominique de Crayencour is Secretary General of both the European Long-Term Investors Association (ELTI) and the Club of Long-Term Investors (LTIC). He is also a board member of Inpulse and member of the European Commission’s expert group on “Social Economy and Social Enterprise“.

    Dominique began his career at the World Bank before moving to commercial and investment banking with the Morgan Guarantee Trust Company of NY. He joined the European Investment Bank (EIB) in 1980 where he spent some 32 years in various positions until 2012 when he retired as honorary Director General.

    Dominique has also been alternate Director of the EBRD Board, EIB representative in the EU Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), EIB Sherpa in the Club of Long Term Investors (LTIC) and Board Member of the Microfinance Centre (MFC).

    He holds a Master’s of Economics from Université Catholique de Louvain and Master's of Business Administration from Cornell University (USA) in 1974.

    Dominique was elected as Vice-President of the EMN Board in June 2016, then re-elected in October 2021.

    Profile picture for user Dominique De Crayencour

  • Emanuele Cabras

    Vice-President

    Drawing from his extensive experience, Emanuele has held leadership roles as CEO and Managing Partner in consultancy firms. He is deeply committed to social innovation and local development. He is currently Director at COOPFIN S.p.A. 

    Profile picture for user Emanuele Cabras

  • Stefan Buciuc

    Vice-President

    Stefan gained a strong experience in banking, risk & sales during his career of 20 years in financial services, within international groups like Erste, Raiffeisen and Unicredit. He is currently heading BCR Social Finance and he has been president of the Romania Microfinance Association for the past two years.

    Profile picture for user Stefan Buciuc

  • Guillem Arís

    Treasurer

    Director at Autoocupació, Guillem is an economist and social entrepreneur with expertise in developing and scaling up inclusive entrepreneurship programme, focusing on financial and non-financial support for entrepreneurs to create, sustain, and grow businesses and jobs.

    Profile picture for user Guillem Arís

  • Herjola Spahiu

    Secretary General

    Herjola Spahiu has close to 20 years of proven experience in strategic planning, retail, operations and projects, organisational development and change management in the banking and financial sector. After in-depth banking experience, she took over the lead of NOA Albania in April 2014 as CEO and Vice Chairman of the Steering Council, focussing on the fulfilment of the social missions of the institution, building a strong senior managers' team able to collectively drive the growing business and achieve high customer service standards, ensuring the company complies with legal and regulatory framework, Code of Conduct, etc. In the spirit of advocating and promoting the role of the microfinance sector in Albania, Herjola held the position of Chairwoman of the Albanian Microfinance Association during 2014-2016.

    She graduated in Business Administration/Marketing in 2002, later attending postgraduate studies in Banking Management and Promotion of Banking Products (2006), at the University of Athens. She holds an EMBA Degree from the International Hellenic University in Thessaloniki (2010). Recently, she attended and awarded with a certificate in "Strategic Leadership in Inclusive Finance" from the Harvard Business University (2019). Herjola is a mother of three children (20, 7 and 1 years old), loves her family and is passionate about travelling and music.

    Herjola was elected to the EMN Board in October 2021

    Profile picture for user Herjola Spahiu

  • Claudia Belli

    For Claudia, peace, equality and respect for Nature are both universal needs and rights for everybody in the planet. Since January 2022, Claudia is Head of Sustainability Advocacy and Inclusive Finance, member of the Executive Committee of Company Engagement of BNP Paribas.

    Profile picture for user Claudia Belli

  • Panagiotis Tournavitis

    Panagiotis is the CEO and Executive member of the Board of Directors of Cooperative Bank of Karditsa. He is also Vice- President of the Board of Directors and member of the Executive Committee of the European Federation of Ethical and Alternative Banks (FEBEA).

    Profile picture for user Panos

The team

  • Alex Rankin

    Deputy General Manager

    Alex joined the team in January 2023

    Responsibilities

    • Co-ordination, supervision and monitoring of all the activities of the organization related to finance and administration, human resources, information technology, and legal support
    Profile picture for user Alex Rankin

  • Nicola Benaglio

    Programme and Research Manager

    Nicola joined the EMN team in January 2015

    Responsibilities

    • Coordination of tenders and work programmes for research activities
    • Identification of EU policy trends related to the sector and canvassing of partnerships with peer networks at EU level
    • Monitoring of main funding opportunities including screening for EU calls for proposals/grants
    • Coordination/participation in working groups
    Profile picture for user Nicola Benaglio

  • Marie Vial

    Advocacy Manager

    Marie joined the team in July 2021.

    Responsibilities

    • Coordination of the network’s advocacy activities
    • Contact between European policymakers and advocacy stakeholders within the EMN network
    • Support to members to improve the regulatory frameworks at national level
    Profile picture for user Marie Vial

  • Francesca Preve

    Project Officer

    Francesca joined the EMN team in January 2021.

    Responsibilities

    • Implementation and reporting of EU funded projects
    • Support the EMN team with office and administrative tasks
    • Support the organisation of EMN Events
    Profile picture for user Francesca Preve

  • Ioana Szatmari

    Project Manager

    Ioana joined the team in November 2023

    Ioana has worked for almost 20 years in the Romanian market in projects related to community resource mobilisation, fundraising, sustainability and grant-making. Ioana has participated in, or coordinated projects that contributed to local community development and long-term, systemic change. She enjoys working with people, especially finding the common ground between different actors who together for the development of social and civic fibre in communities. Ioana has also worked on non-financial reporting and strategy development for large companies operating in the Romanian market.

    Profile picture for user Ioana

  • Adrian Suteu

    Membership Manager

    Adrian joined the team in October 2023

    At EMN, Adrian is responsible for fostering collaboration among microfinance practitioners. With a background in sales, communication, and marketing, he has a strong understanding of various business types and excels in connecting with people. This expertise is invaluable in his role as Membership Manager at the European Microfinance Network, enabling him to effectively meet the needs and engage with the organizations he works with.

    Profile picture for user Adrian

  • Martina Volpi

    Communication Officer

    Martina joined the team in March 2022

    Responsibilities

    • Coordination of EMN's communication activities (social media platforms, website, YouTube channel, etc...)
    • Coordination of the European Microfinance Day Campaign
    • Organisation of EMN events, including the EMN Annual Conference and the European Microfinance Day central event

    Skill

    Communication
    Interpreting and translation
    Profile picture for user Martina Volpi

Annual Reports

The EMN Annual Report offers our members and other interested parties information about the network's action plan, activities and financial performance throughout the preceding year.

EMN annual report 2023

In 2023, the European Microfinance Network celebrated its 20th anniversary in Paris, where the organisation was originally created by its founder, Maria Nowak. Following her vision and legacy, in the last two decades, we committed to support micro-entrepreneurs, and to strengthen the microfinance sector across Europe.

This reports provides you with an overview of the main activities carried out by the EMN Team and its partners during the previous year. It shows EMN’s main objectives, such as financial and social inclusion for all, support to vulnerable categories, and development of sustainable solutions for the microfinance sector

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EMN annual report 2022

2022 was certainly a challenging year: after the end of the COVID19's restrictions, the inflation dramatically increased across Europe, the Ukraine-Russia war blew out, and new monetary policies were put in place.

At the European Microfinance Network we worked with our members to support Small and Micro Entrepreneurs (SMEs) in overcoming these times of crises. Over the year, we organised a series of webinars within the EasiTA projects and other events dedicated to various topics, such as green transitions, digitalisation, and financial inclusion.

We published a number of publications, including Policy Briefings, a Survey Report, and other working papers.

Finally, we held our Annual Conference in Brussels, and organised the 8th edition of the European Microfinance Day Campaign.

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EMN annual report 2021

2021 was a year of change and novelty for us here at the European Microfinance Network: new team and management, new board, new strategy. For the second year in a row, EMN, like thousands of organizations out there, was hit by the consequences of Covid-19 on the well-being of its members and activities. People had to accept new ways of working and continue to contend with distance learning and exchange.

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EMN annual report 2020

What a year to look back upon! While there is surely no need to remind anyone of the COVID-19 pandemic that took the world by storm in the early months of 2020, it is essential to reflect together on the silver linings of this storm.

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Annual Report 2019 cover EMN annual report 2019

Looking back on 2019, we can confidently say that it has been another great year for EMN and the European microfinance sector as we spearheaded the sector’s endeavours towards greater recognition of its impact on the lives of those excluded by the traditional banking system.

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Annual Report 2018 cover EMN annual report 2018

2018 has been a year in which our activities have significantly increased, enhancing the collaboration with our members and our main partners.

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EMN Annual Report EMN annual report 2017

In 2017, EMN welcomed 27 new members which brings our total to 108. Throughout this year, EMN worked hard to better represent the interests of our members and the microfinance industry in Europe as a whole.

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EMN annual report 2016

In 2016, EMN continued to increase its activities in order to better represent the interests of the microfinance industry in Europe and, in a period of constant evolution of the sector, EMN successfully delivered a variety of impactful activities.

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EMN annual report 2015

In 2015, the European Year for Development, EMN increased its advocacy efforts, encouraging greater participation, promoting best practices across the European microfinance sector and ensuring that the sector rightly played a role in social and financial inclusion.

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EMN annual report 2014

In 2014, the European Year of Citizenship, EMN continued its hard work and focussed its activities on promoting and enhancing social and financial inclusion among the EU citizenship, in accordance with the EU 2020 strategy.

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EMN annual report 2013

2013, the European Year of Citizens, was a significant year for EMN's development. EMN's activities focused on the rights that come with EU citizenship, particularly social and financial inclusion, and on the role of microfinance for migrants.

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EMN annual report 2012

2012 saw many changes in EMN: a new team was recruited & EMN was registered in Belgium. The number of active members steadily grew representing organisations in 21 European countries. Microfinance remained an important tool to battle exclusion & to foster entrepreneurship.

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EMN annual report 2011

2011 was a significant year for EMN's development in the three areas outlined in our 2011-2013 strategic plan. It was a challenging but insipring year for the Network and its members. Steps were made to reach a growing number of people who are socially & financially excluded.

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EMN annual report 2010

2010 saw a growing and diverse membership base in the Network, in recognition of our work in the European microfinance sector. Priorities were supporting development and providing technical & organisational assistance to members. Exchanges of good practices were also fostered.

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Funding Partners

Do you want to partner with us?

EMN is always looking for new partners to support its existing initiatives (events, training sessions, research initiatives, projects…) and to plan new ones. We have plenty of ideas, so get in touch and we will be happy to share our potential partnership opportunities with you.

For further information, please contact EMN at emn@european-microfinance.org

The European Commission is our main partner and supports most of our initiatives

Logo European Commission

The European Microfinance Network receives financial support from the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation "EaSI" through a 4-year (2018-2021) framework partnership agreement, contributing to the achievement of the EU 2020 Strategy.  

EMN public and private partners in 2018

In 2018, EMN was supported in its actions by the below partners. Thank you to all our partners for your generous support for our 2018 initiatives. We hope to count on this support again in 2019 and beyond!

Project Partners

EaSI Technical Assistance to the microcredit sector

European Union

EaSI Technical Assistance

EaSI Technical Assistance (EaSI TA) is a part of the first axis of the Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) Programme which is an EU level financing instrument, funded by the European Commission.

Learn more

ATM for SMEs

ATM for SMEs

Access to Microfinance for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Since April 2016, EMN has been an advisory partner in the “ATM for SMEs” project which has the aim of improving access to microfinance for small and medium enterprises.

Learn more