ACME Haiti (IFC-34631)

Regions
  • Latin America and Caribbean
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Haiti
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
C
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
May 25, 2016
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
ACTION POUR LA COOPERATION AVEC LA MICRO ENTREPRISE SA
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Finance
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 5.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Jul 25, 2018

Disclosed by Bank Mar 24, 2016

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to IFC website, the project consists in providing long-term financing in local currency to Action pour la Cooperation avec la Micro Entreprise (ACME), in order to support the growth of its microfinance portfolio and help ACME expand its lending services to rural micro and small enterprises (MSEs). ACME is one of Haiti’s leading microfinance institutions. The project would focus on strengthening core competencies, such as risk management, as well as develop and/or refine their product offering from MSEs. The proposed advisory services will be partially supported with funds from USAID.

The project is expected to have development impact by: (i) Increasing and improving access to finance for micro and small entrepreneurs in order to increase employment opportunities and generate economic growth in Haiti; (ii) Providing access to finance to women entrepreneurs, which represent 65% of ACME's clients; (iii) Expanding availability of financial services in rural areas of Haiti; and (iv) Promoting the adoption and implementation of best practice, particularly in terms of environmental and social practices.

Given that ACME provides financial services primarily to micro enterprises in Haiti and that the largest sectors of portfolio exposure are to Trade (83%), the environmental and social risks are considered to be low. the project has been categorized as FI-3 according to IFC’s Environmental and Social Review Procedures. While a limited number of activities supported by the microfinance institution could potentially be of moderate risk, these are reversible and readily addressed through mitigation measures. For this project, ACME will be required to ensure on-going screening of sub-loans against the IFC FI Exclusion List and national laws and regulations.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

ACME’s shareholders are:

Organizations: ACME a.s.b.l. (original NGO structure), INCOFIN, IADB, and FIE NGO
Private persons: Mr. Bernard de Brouwer (founder), Mr. Sinior Raymond (Managing Director), and Mr. Vincent Burgi.

This project would benefit from additional support from USAID

Financial Intermediary
A financial intermediary is a bank or financial institution that receives funds from a development bank. A financial intermediary then lends these funds to their clients (private actors) in the form of loans, bonds, guarantees and equity shares. Financial intermediaries include insurance, pension and equity funds. The direct financial relationship is between the development bank and the financial intermediary.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

ACME was founded as an NGO in 1997, with operations mainly in Port-au-Prince. After a decade of growth, the ACME converted in 2009 into a for-profit company. ACME’s shareholders are: organizations: ACME a.s.b.l. (original NGO structure), INCOFIN, IADB, FIE NGO and; private persons: Mr. Bernard de Brouwer (founder), Mr. Sinior Raymond (Managing Director), and Mr. Vincent Burgi.


Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

Mr. Sinior Raymond
Directeur General
ACME SA (Siège Social) 4 Impassse Pierre Legrand (Puits Blain) Pétionville, Haiti
mailto:sraymond@acmehaiti.org tél: Cell: (509) 3713-9545 / (509)-2816-6454

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org. You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org/

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How it works