Background & Goals
The project 'Enhancing microentrepreneurs' resilience and financial health in times of crisis and uncertainty' aims to support the resilience and financial health of entrepreneurs from vulnerable communities, helping them navigate challenges like economic shocks and other difficult situations.
Over the past 15 years, entrepreneurs have faced several major crises, including:
- Global Financial Crisis (2008)
- COVID-19 Pandemic (2020)
- Cost of Living and Energy Crisis (2022)
In light of these challenges, the primary goal of the project is to develop, test, and evaluate interventions that strengthen entrepreneurs' resilience by enhancing financial health, personal (psychological) resilience, and business strategies.
Most available support for entrepreneurs focuses on the early stages of business development. However, many entrepreneurs face challenges beyond the startup phase, creating a gap in support for building resilience that this project seeks to address.
The project will run through March 2026.
Project Partners
This project is coordinated by the European Microfinance Network, with participation from the following organizations:
- France: Adie, Cresus, and Live Mentor
- Spain: Autoocupació, Fundación INCYDE, Nantik Lum, and Tomillo
Together, the partners will provide tailored support in France and Spain, aiming to strengthen the financial health and resilience of entrepreneurs facing crises. Additionally, project partners will receive capacity-building training to improve their ability to serve the targeted entrepreneurs effectively.
Methodology of the intervention
- Providing coaching, mentoring, and/or training
- Supplementing support with additional financial and non-financial services as needed.
Targeted entrepreneurs
- Actively running a business (150 in France and 150 in Spain).
- Facing personal, financial, or strategic crises.
- Primarily located in underserved urban areas.
Learning opportunities
The project will create learning opportunities for anyone interested in the topic. This will include:
- A manual on how to support at-risk entrepreneurs
- Case studies examining the challenges faced by entrepreneurs and the support interventions provided
- Dissemination and learning events, such as workshops and webinars
- An impact assessment of the non-financial support offered to entrepreneurs, designed to evaluate its usefulness for your own practice
All resources will be published on this website. We also encourage you to stay updated on the project by subscribing to the EMN newsletter, following the EMN LinkedIn page, and signing up for the dedicated LinkedIn newsletter.
Overview of project partners
ADIE (Association pour le Droit à l'Initiative Economique) is a non-profit organisation helping people excluded from the workplace and the regular banking system to start a business and get self-employed, thanks to microcredit.
Cresus is an organization which works in the eight départements of the Île-de-France region to accompany and mentor people to help them prevent and treat over-indebtedness, and financial and banking exclusion, and to encourage prudent and informed use of money.
LiveMentor gives all those who need it access to the right resources at the right time, to help them develop and move forward in their professional and/or personal transitions. Using a unique methodology, the LiveMentor coaches and mentors accompany the entrepreneurs in their journey towards their goals.
Autoocupació, The Private Foundation to Promote Self-Employment in Catalonia is a not-for-profit organization, created in 1986, to promote entrepreneurship as an attractive alternative for exercising the vocations and the people’s professional development and to facilitate everyone the access to the necessary resources to create and consolidate their businesses.
INCYDE Foundation of the Spanish Chambers of Commerce is dedicated to promoting and training the entrepreneurial spirit, improving the qualifications of entrepreneurs and creating and consolidating SMEs. Through its training programs, start-up projects and business development spaces, the entity fosters the growth and innovation of SMEs.
Nantik Lum is a private, non-profit organization established to combat poverty and social exclusion. It empowers vulnerable individuals through microfinance, entrepreneurship, and financial health programs, offering training and advisory services at local, national, and international levels to foster sustainable economic independence and business growth.
Tomillo supports young people and vulnerable individuals, helping them become their best selves. Through a standardized intake process, we conduct a vulnerability analysis and connect them with the right internal and external programs, offering holistic support. A key focus is employability, including our entrepreneurship program, which helps entrepreneurs at risk of social exclusion develop technical and socio- personal skills, empowering them to launch their projects.
