'Diving in at the deep end'

Edgar and Ángeles decided to create their own business. With nothing more than an idea, they applied for a € 25,000 micro loan from MicroBank and created Laboratorios Edyma, a biotechnological centre focused on food safety and production of in vitro cultures. Three years later they serve the food processing industry and small and medium enterprises in the sector and they have become a benchmark at the European level. 

Edgar and Ángeles are particularly grateful to MicroBank for the trust it placed in a project presented by two young people like them: “People thought we were mad setting up a company and asking for a loan at our age, but we believed in what we had in mind so we just dived in at the deep end.”

CEB’s support to microfinance in Spain

Since 2008, the CEB has provided almost € 300 million in loans to MicroBank in Spain, the only bank in the country that specialises in microfinance. MicroBank was founded in 2007 to facilitate easier access to credit for different segments of the population who would have had difficulties through the traditional financial system. 

In January 2017, the CEB approved a fourth loan to MicroBank in the amount of €100 million to support an ambitious and highly social initiative designed to promote entrepreneurship, foster economic growth, create employment and help individuals and their families to overcome temporary financial difficulties and access the formal banking system. 

“The significant financial support received from the CEB between 2008 and 2011, when the risk premium of the Spanish financial system was particularly high, has contributed enormously to the sustainability of our activity and has allowed us quickly gain scale while at the same time being able to offer highly competitive conditions to our customers,” says MicroBank. 

During its first 10 years, coinciding with the period of economic crisis, MicroBank has granted more than 660,000 microloans - small loans of up to € 25,000 - for an amount exceeding € 3.6 billion.  According to the impact study carried out by Barcelona’s ESADE Business School, MicroBank financing has contributed to the creation of more than 181,000 jobs, many of them self-employed. 

“At a time when MicroBank has a portfolio of more than € 1.3 billion in micro-loans, it is still equally important to rely on the support of institutions such as the CEB to guarantee the sustainability of our activity, and it is for this reason that we are very satisfied with and grateful for the trust it has placed in us with the granting of a new loan for € 100 million.”