Benoit Sarraute

How did SIPEM come into contact with SIDI?

• Created in 1990 by SIDI and the Association pour la Promotion de l’Entreprise à Madagascar (APEM, an offshoot of the Groupement des Entreprises à Madagascar), SIPEM is a pioneer in the microfinance sector in Madagascar. In 2014, SIPEM obtained its full banking license and became SIPEM Banque. SIPEM Banque now boasts a network of 29 branches covering all Madagascar’s main towns and serving more than 40,000 customers, 51% of whom are women.
• Since the early 1990s, SIDI has supported SIPEM Banque at every major stage of its development: from taking an equity stake in micro and small businesses, through setting up guarantee funds for bank loans made by micro and small businesses, to granting loans to micro and small businesses, collecting savings, developing services, to becoming a fully-fledged territorial bank.
• In addition to our two institutions, SIDI and SIPEM Banque have benefited fully from the excellent relationship between their respective directors, who share a strong sense of trust and a desire to support Madagascar’s businesses, their socio-economic impact, their jobs, their employees and their families. SIPEM Banque is the sustainable banking partner of Nutrizaza and Vahatra, two SIDI partners, and SIDI’s capital link with these two entities makes them singular clients who share the same values.

In your opinion, what is/was SIDI’s decisive contribution to this partnership?

• The support of a long-term, patient financial partner has played a decisive role in SIPEM Banque’s growth. SIDI facilitated and lent credibility to SIPEM Banque’s successful search for “backers” to refinance its medium-term operations. Finally, SIDI has always provided direct technical support through the skills of its teams or by mobilizing funds, thus making it possible to carry out structuring and strategic projects that have played a decisive role in SIPEM Banque’s development.
• Do you have a message for the 2,000 shareholders who have enabled SIDI to support SIPEM?

The long-term, patient and resilient support of SIDI’s shareholders is the key to the past success of SIPEM Banque, its teams and its customers. It is also a guarantee of future success for our new ambitions, which will take shape around our new 2024-2027 strategic plan, to which SIDI will make a major contribution. We look forward to benefiting from SIDI’s stability, reliability and image in Madagascar’s changing socio-economic and environmental environment.

The long-term support of SIDI shareholders, with patience and resilience, is the key to success.