Welcoming in Oikocredit’s 50th anniversary year

In 2024 Oikocredit continued to accomplish a great deal, although the year was not easy for us. The capital we had available for investing was less than we would have wished. Even so, our development financing portfolio of loans and equity grew satisfactorily, and we maintained sufficient liquidity to meet redemption requests.

Alongside achieving portfolio growth, our cooperative performed well in other ways too. Our investments in education, housing, water and sanitation, and infrastructure under the 2022-2026 strategy made tangible contributions to lower-income communities’ resilience. We published our third consecutive annual Client Self-Perception Survey, packed with insights collected online from more than 40,500 financial inclusion clients in our focus regions, and we made good progress with the fourth client survey.

Also in 2024, we were delighted that Maanaveeya, our subsidiary in India, celebrated its 20th anniversary, and we marked 30 years of investing in Kenya.

The year also had its setbacks. Our partners’ agriculture cooperative members and other clients experienced difficulties in repaying loans as changing weather patterns impacted on production yields and pricing, because of adjustments needed to comply with new regulations, and for other reasons. We see the effects of climate change injustice on livelihoods and wellbeing intensifying worldwide as the communities least responsible for it, including many of those we serve, experience the severest climate change effects.

Added to this, the emergence of exceptional politico-economic problems in Bolivia made it near-impossible for partners in one of our larger country markets to obtain US dollars to make payments. We are working with partners and other lenders to find tailor-made solutions, and the situation has informed the provisions we need to make in case no adequate solution can be found.

Climate impacts and the Bolivian situation illustrate the multidimensional risks we increasingly face and must manage.

Despite these challenges, however, we have much to look forward to in 2025. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Oikocredit’s founding in 1975, and there will be plenty to celebrate. Our cooperative has set and raised social impact investing standards internationally, and matured organisationally, since we first entered the field. The diversity, calibre and engagement of our workforce are an important additional positive feature.

Our community-focused, climate-responsive and gender-lens investing, capacity building, and client survey go from strength to strength, mutually reinforcing each other and helping amplify our impact. The strategic development of several partnerships indicates that, with greater experience, we can harvest even more fruits from our collaborative approach. Meanwhile our careful portfolio monitoring continues to serve us well against multidimensional risks.

We are collaborating with the support associations to ensure we benefit as much as possible from the adjustment following implementation of the new capital-raising model that is now nearly completed. In 2025 we will launch together our new global learning for transformation and advocacy (GLTA) campaign as part of our response to the inescapable reality of climate change.

Looking to the coming year, as we celebrate our cooperative’s half-century, begin the GLTA campaign, and roll out our brand refresh and new digital pathway for investors, we will share our story widely. This should help us grow our community of members and investors and raise more capital to continue our work for a more just and sustainable society. We will strive as always to optimise our organisation to deliver social impact while controlling costs and risks and rewarding our members and investors with a positive financial return.

Join me in 2025 in building on Oikocredit’s achievements and learning over the past five decades as we continue co-creating responsible investable solutions to support people with low incomes and their communities in improving their lives, livelihoods and resilience.