Mikra - Microcredit for Women

Stoja's story

Stoja lives and works in Banja Luka, and must support herself. She began working with a friend in the glass-cutting business 13 years ago, but was unable to continue during the war. MIKRA's loan helped her to restart her business after the war, and two years ago she began working on her own. Now she has hired another employee, and has managed to expand her business to include mirrors, logotypes, picture frames and glass for furniture.

Stoja, a MIKRA client

MIKRA client Stoja works on a client project.

"I am never afraid I will lose my job, because glass always breaks and needs to be replaced," says Stoja.

What is MIKRA and What Does it Do?

In 1997, MIKRA began operating in Bosnia-Herzegovina, targeting low-income female micro-entrepreneurs through group loans. All of MIKRA's clients are women and they come from every ethnic and religious group in Bosnia. They all run very small businesses, and are unlikely to be able to access loans from banks. This is where MIKRA steps in.

Women who wish to borrow from MIKRA form community banks, called "zadrugas," consisting of 25-30 members. Each member of the zadruga also belongs to a solidarity group of three to five members. Solidarity group members guarantee each other's loans, which means that they agree that each member will repay her loan in full. If one member cannot pay, the other members of her solidarity group must make up the amount. If the solidarity group cannot repay the loan, the zadruga, in order to receive future loans, must make up the payment. The group guarantee has proven to be very effective, as less than one percent of MIKRA's loans are currently in arrears.

Mikra has not only been successful at sustaining high repayment rates and reaching large numbers of clients; it has also demonstrated that different ethnic groups can work together. Mikra's clients have formed zadrugas that incorporate members of all ethnic and religious groups. They say that working together makes them concentrate on improving their businesses and making their zadruga successful, rather than dwelling on ethnic or religious differences.

In 2001, MIKRA officially registered as a local Micro-Credit Organization. This is a critical step in MIKRA's evolution from one of many CRS-sponsored microfinance programs into a self-sustaining microfinance institution providing its clients with efficient long-term financial services.

MIKRA's goals are: