Ten years after AgroInvest dispersed its first loan in Montenegro, the World Vision and VisionFund*- affiliated microfinance institution is now providing services to more than 40,000 clients across Serbia and Montenegro with a focus on improving the lives of the rural poor.

Over ten years AgroInvest has grown from an initial grant of US$296,470 to an organisation that now manages a loan portfolio of more than US$85 million. It works through 521 Village Associations, established to involve community members in the loan process, and has implemented 659 social projects to improve the lives of some 110,000 rural children through better education and health care.

AgroInvest has grown from an initial grant of US$296,470 to an organisation that now manages a loan portfolio of more than US$85 million

"’Large streams from little fountains flow, Tall oaks from little acorns grow’. It was the lawyer and writer David Everett who wrote these profound words when he was just 7. I cannot think of a more appropriate statement when contemplating how AgroInvest has grown over these last 10 years... but we do not let numbers tell the whole story. We are far more conscious of the trust the community has put in us to work together as partners towards achieving life in all its fullness for rural families”, said Petros Florides, Chairman for AgroInvest’s Board of Directors.

The very first Village Councillor, Mr. Stevo Stojanovic from the Village Association Pricelje near Podgorica, Montenegro, who became an AgroInvest Village Councillor exactly ten years ago, says that no other financial institutions were present there when AgroInvest began its operations. AgroInvest, he says, was the first institution to start investing in villages and for a long period was the only one.

“For its Village Association model and for all the effort invested in improving lives in rural areas, AgroInvest can serve as a good example to other financial institutions in the country,” shared Stojanovic.

“Sixty-three per cent of our clients are women, while 65 per cent of all our clients return to AgroInvest to support their business development,” said Dejan Vujosevic, CEO for AgroInvest in Montenegro.

Investing back into communities is key to AgroInvest’s mission and its Happy Child programme has enabled the institution to directly impact rural children by funding social projects such as improving kindergarten facilities or helping individual children to receive medical treatment – interventions that are needed more than ever in today’s financial climate.

For its Village Association model and for all the effort invested in improving lives in rural areas, AgroInvest can serve as a good example to other financial institutions in the country

“As we continue to wrestle with the consequences of the biggest financial crisis in living memory and with our own internal organisational redesign and development, at the forefront of our minds will always be how we can build on the proud legacy that has been handed over to us as a result of the extraordinary efforts of previous leadership and staff. We are truly standing ‘on the shoulders of giants’”, added Florides.

AgroInvest will continue to reinforce its governance processes including more robust internal controls and other risk management procedures to operate as effectively and efficiently as possible, according to Florides, and will also work with its partners to provide even more positive impact on the lives of children.

* VisionFund is the microfinance subsidiary of World Vision.