(Click to enlarge)

The Voronezh Oblast State Fund for Small Business Support (hereafter referred to as ‘the Fund’) in cooperation with a multitude of partners started in 2009 to provide microfinance services and mobile banking for micro-and small businesses in the remote regions of Voronezh Oblast. The multi-stakeholder pilot model, which the Fund leads in its field operations, leverages innovative technologies – mobile banking and non-personalized plastic cards.

The pilot was conducted in close cooperation with two national umbrella microfinance institutions (MFIs), a commercial bank, Visa International, and regional and local authorities. The Fund was established in 1998 as a legal entity of the regional government in charge of small business development. Today, the Fund serves as a coordinating center for the provision of microfinance services in remote areas and has three regional branches and 17 partner affiliated organizations. Although the Fund’s model has been implemented only recently, initial experience can be already spread over Russia through national microfinance institutions.