Mission: To provide agile, timely, and competitive financial services, through the promotion of a culture of savings, managing and intermediating financial resources in an efficient and effective manner.

Specialty: Rural Lending

Organization Profile: Cooperative San Antonio (CSA) has grown from a “peasant bank” into a professionally managed institution serving the remote areas of eastern Nicaragua. CSA impacts hard to reach, small agricultural towns such as Nueva Guinea and El Rama. In helping these areas, CSA provides the communities with necessary financial services.

CSA offers financial assistance through loans for livestock, commerce, consumption, housing, and agriculture. In addition to capital, CSA supplies technological training and assistance with credit administration and financial management. This training allows borrowers to run their businesses both more effectively and efficiently. Since CSA is a cooperative they are allowed to take savings as well. Providing this safe and secure location for finances is extremely important to those fighting poverty.

NICA Fund Partner Since: 2004

Borrowers: CSA lends to 821 total borrowers. Of these individuals, 62% are men and 38% are women (as of December 2006).

Lending Portfolio: CSA has an average loan size of $1,980, and a total lending portfolio of $1,625,952. Of the lending portfolio, agriculture and livestock loans encompass 65%, commerce, small enterprise, and industry 20%, consumption 10%, and housing 5% (as of December 2006).