Our lending

Providing a reliable source of finance

We lend in two ways: directly to fair trade producer groups (producer lending) mainly across Africa and Latin America, and to fair trade wholesalers, FLO (Fairtrade Labelling Organizations) Traders or retail businesses (buyer lending).

Customer and portfolio development

Shared Interest is a founding member of the Council on Smallholder Agricultural Finance (CSAF), which celebrated its 10th Anniversary in 2022.

Customer relationship, communication and events

Since establishing regional teams in Costa Rica, Ghana, Kenya and Peru, we have strengthened our relationship with producer groups and grown our direct producer lending.

Products financed

In terms of lending products, coffee remains our largest focus, mainly due to the scale of Fairtrade coffee production, with more than half of all Fairtrade certified producers growing this commodity.

Due Diligence and Management of our Risk Portfolio

Disbursements

‘Disbursements’ refers to any funds sent as part of an Export Credit payment (prefinance request), Buyer Credit payments to suppliers or the release of a Stock Facility or Term Loan.

Lending per region

This section will look at the funds borrowed by our producers during 2022 and 2021 in disbursement terms by region.