Linden Economic Advancement Fund (LEAF)

The Linden Economic Advancement Fund (LEAF) is a credit fund for the creation and support of enterprises and subsequently employment in Region 10 area. The fund will be accessible by entrepreneurs who wish to establish or expand a business in Region 10.

Target groups:

• Target groups will be existing and start-up businesses in Region 10 that have financing needs which regular financial institutions cannot meet.

The following categories can be identified:

• Small and micro enterprises 1 to 25 employees
• Medium sized enterprises 25 to 50 employees

Fund allocation criteria/ Operation of the fund

Critical to the operations of the Linden Economic Advancement Fund (LEAF) is that it is a credit or loan fund for entrepreneurs. The fund must be paid back to the LEAF by those taking up loans. The lending activities will be carried out by a financial institution operating on a commercial basis and supervised by the LEAP steering committee.

His Excellency President Jagdeo (right) with local entrepreneursThe LEAF will cater to clients through a range of financing ‘windows’. Separate credit windows will be designed for each category of customers. The level of equity provided will vary with the size of the enterprise and the size of the loan. For larger enterprises requiring larger loans, the fund can be accessed to provide equity capital. For micro and small enterprise loans a minimum of starting capital is required and larger equity can be provided.

Fund amount: The total amount allocated to the fund is €1.9 million.

• €600,000 will be available for Micro credit
• €1.3 million will be available for SME