Det begyndte så godt, MYC4 – initiativet, der skulle få danskere til at skyde penge i afrikanske iværksættere og gerne ende med at de danske indskydere også tjente på det.
Det er sket med rundhåndede starttilskud fra Danida på stærk tilskyndelse fra dav. udviklingsminister Ulla Tørnæs (V).
Men ikke så lidt er gået galt: Først med en partner i Elfenbenskysten, så en i Kenya, og nu er der problemer i Senegal, hvor MYC4 har et partner-skab med ingen andre end Yossou N’dour – en af Afrikas superstjerner indenfor musik – men tilsyneladende ikke indenfor mikrokredit (smålån).
MYC4 skriver således under nyheder på sit website:
16.03.2010 Update from West Africa:
Senegal
Repayments of the Birima loans are ongoing but due to technical problems with the transfer of funds to Denmark the payments have not been registered lately in the MYC4 system. According to Birima the problems should be solved within a week upon which the repayment situation should be properly reflected.
The economic situation in Senegal is reportedly still quite bad and all of the 23 SME loans are late with their repayments. The agreement between MYC4 and Birima from September 2009, by which Birima commits to provide guarantee payments before the loans default, is still valid but posing an increasing challenge for Birima to live up to.
They have therefore asked that all loan terms are extended by 6 months, which will give the borrowers a more realistic repayment time in view of the economic climate.
MYC4 will only be able to calculate the consequences of such an extension after the above technical issues have been solved, but we are open to the suggestion if this can facilitate the full repayment of the full, remaining outstanding.
We will update here on Forum as soon as such an agreement has been reached. Until then the agreement signed by Birima and Youssou N’Dour’s office in September is valid and we have Birima’s continued assurances that all loans will be repaid to investors.
08.01.2010
Update on our Senegalese Partner Birima
A number of questions and justified concerns have been raised in different Forum threads over the past month as to what the situation is at Birima in Senegal – especially after some critical articles in the Senegalese media about Birima and its owner, Youssou N’Dour, surfaced in December 2009.
MYC4 is in close contact with Birima and Youssou N’Dour’s office but have not been successful in getting them to communicate directly with investors on the Forum, which is why we will now attempt to describe the situation to you as we have been informed:
1. First of all Birima, their CEO Abdoulaye Dieng and Youssou N’Dour personally still maintain that all Birima borrowers on MYC4 will honor their obligations to repay in full their loans. The economic situation in Senegal is given as the primary reason as to why so many loans are late with their installments and need longer time to repay.
2. Birima informs that all legal measures are taken to ensure that all borrowers eventually repay.
3. As several loans are approaching or have already passed the 6 months limit which MYC4 uses to determine when to technically default a loan MYC4 made an agreement with Birima and Youssou N’Dour’s head office on September 3rd, whereby Birima/Youssou N’Dour will step in and pay MYC4 investors 2 installments one week before a loan passes into default.
4. Since then some repayments have been received but Birima has not been able to fully live up to the agreement and after mutual understanding it was decided to default the first loan end of December (ID#3863 Stylena) to maximize pressure on the borrower. Birima is taking this borrower the legal way and maintain that the investors’ losses will be fully recovered although defaulted amounts no longer earn an interest.
5. A few other loans have now technically passed the default line but Birima insists that these loans should not be defaulted as installments are in the immediate pipeline.
6. Birima claims that the critical press in December will not affect negatively any of the 23 borrowers attitude or ability to repay the remaining, outstanding 145.000 € to investors over time.
MYC4 will continue to strongly pursue that Birima and Youssou N’Dour will honor their obligations towards MYC4 investors as they have also stated on the platform at numerous occasions.
(slut)
