On March 4, 1964, under the inspiring leadership of Dr. Uriel Estrada Calderón, a group of twenty-seven doctors founded the Medical Cooperative of Valle (Ccoomeva). Intending to jointly offer financial and insurance services, the group harnessed the cooperative structure of credit unions. Gradually the successful model attracted more members: first doctors and later individuals from […]
Cooperativa Médica del Valle y de Profesionales de Colombia – Coomeva
Coomeva is a cooperative that groups 265,000 professionals and offers a wide range of products and services. Its assets total 2.5 billion dollars and its equity totals 275 million, ranking among the 20 largest companies in Colombia. Coomevas services are articulated in a business group of 16 companies in the health, finance and recreation and […]
From Paraffin stoves to steel
In post-civil war Spain’s Basque country, a group of young, working class graduates with few job prospects founded a small co-operative to build paraffin stoves. They then began to set up other co-operative business ventures. When they needed capital for expansion, they started their own co-operative bank. These young people had been taught the ways […]
A Life Long Commitment
What do teenagers and small business owners have in common? They are two of the many populations that participate in and benefit from membership in the Ecuadorian credit union OSCUS. For all of its members OSCUS dedicates itself to long-term life planning for members that goes beyond standard savings-and-loans. Visit one of the many OSCUS […]
Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito OSCUS Ltda.
OSCUS mission “to work together to improve the quality of life of its members” is implemented through the execution of its strategic priorities to achieve its vision, “to be a model of the application of values and principles of social responsibility”. With its head office in Ambato, Ecuador, and its eleven branches, OSCUS was awarded […]
Four Thousand Three Hundred Kilometers of Credit
Bounded by some of the earths most dramatic landscapes, Chile, a thin lance of land, stretches four thousand three hundred kilometers down the western edge of South America. The trembling, volcanic Andean Cordiera, home to some of the highest peaks in the world, forms the country’s eastern border. To the west, large cold Pacific Ocean […]
CoBank
CoBank is a national cooperative bank serving vital industries across rural America. The bank provides loans, leases, export financing and other financial services to agribusinesses and rural power, water and communications providers in all 50 states. CoBank is a member of the Farm Credit System, a nationwide network of banks and retail lending associations chartered […]
Member stories – Kitunda SACCO, Tanzania
Savings, loans and coaching Kitunda Savings and Credit Cooperative (SACCO) began in 2002 with the aim of providing financial access for people in the area of Kitunda, Tanzania. Located approximately 20 km outside the capital Dar es Salaam, residents of Kitunda have no bank and so depend on Kitunda SACCO for their banking. The SACCO […]
Supporting rural communities with more than finance – Gromada Credit Union Ukraine
Gromada Credit Union was the first agricultural credit cooperative Oikocredit financed in Ukraine. In 1996, four women started the cooperative with the aim of providing small consumer and trade loans to market traders. Unable to approach traditional banks, farmers also began to turn to the women for support with their agricultural projects. Today, the cooperative […]
Co-operation can move mountains
If a huge stone is in the way of 20 people, they could not pass if they individually tried to remove it. However, if the 20 people come together and work under the orientation of one of them, jointly they will remove the stone and open the way to everyone. Theodor Amstad Theodor Amstad, a […]