Eastern Europe Archives

Victor Efros, a 61-year-old agronomist, started his own vineyard in 2001 in the village of Pașcani in the Criuleni district. This business model is very popular in Moldova. Before that, he attended numerous national and international viticulture seminars and learned everything you need to know to make money from this business. However, Victor Efros offers something special: he grows wine using the European method with Moldovan grapes. Today Victor and his son are very proud of ten hectares of high quality grapes.

Viticulture is a seasonal business and his team is constantly changing. In the off-season, he employs five people. For the harvest season, he needs more than 20 employees to finish all the work on time.

Victor Efros took out a loan to introduce automation processes in his vineyard. The loan he received enabled him to purchase modern equipment and machinery.

Another feature of Victor Efros’ vineyard is that a rose bush grows at the beginning of each row of vines. This is a nice side effect, as the roses make the plantation look more colorful. But the real reason is that the rose has the same immune system as the vine. As soon as the first signs of disease are visible on the rose’s petals, he can act quickly to keep the vineyard healthy.

Microinvest, a microfinance institution, is a major player in the Moldovan microfinance market. Founded in 2003, Microinvest currently lends to more than 20,000 borrowers, including many farmers and small entrepreneurs. The microfinance institution has a gross loan portfolio of over 47 million euros and lends an average of 2,094 euros. Thanks to Microinvest’s loans, Victor Efros was able to gradually automate his vineyard. He acquired his own harvesting machine and built a wine cellar to store the wine.

*Loans to the microfinance institution via the IIV Mikrofinanzfonds since 2019.

How about a mirror that plays your favorite music, walks itself in after you shower, and automatically responds to movement? Sounds magical doesn’t it? Not for Petru Schiopu’s team, who can turn any mirror into something more than just a decorative element. In 2018, Petru Schiopu approached the microfinance institute Microinvest and presented his vision and ideas from Millory. The business idea includes the individualized development of LED-illuminated premium mirrors. There is no function that Petru Schiopu could not implement with his company.

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From the very beginning, Microinvest has believed in us and our idea.

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Petru Schiopu

Microinvest’s first loan was taken for the purchase of equipment such as machines, tools and raw materials. Later, thanks to another loan, Petru invested in a company car to ensure delivery and installation of the mirrors. For over 19 years, Microinvest has been supporting Moldovan companies and individuals who choose to improve their quality of life through their own ambition. In the case of Petru with success! Petru reports that there were many ups and downs.

Over time, the company went through all phases of corporate development: competition, lack of personnel, unstable order situation. But Microinvest has always stood by them. Now, for the next 5 years, Petru and his team at Millory plan to enter the European market to produce more than 10,000 mirrors per month and decorate people’s homes with smart mirrors. We congratulate Petru and his team from the bottom of our hearts for their success.

*Loans to the microfinance institution via the IIV Mikrofinanzfonds since 2019.

Sergey Moon from the village of Zhanaturmys in Kazakhstan has been growing vegetables for over 25 years. He says it’s a difficult but honorable endeavor. So he gave up his job as an aircraft technician to grow tomatoes.

With “KH Kazakhstan-2030”, his idea became a farm that today covers 150 hectares of land on which three crops are grown: onions, corn and tomatoes.

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I realized that farming is a very ‘pure’ profession. It is impossible to cheat for the sake of profit. Everything is as transparent as possible. You can touch, examine and taste the product. The quality cannot be faked. In addition, there is the constant stay in the fresh air, the gratitude of people who have a permanent job in the field. What could be better than agriculture?

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Sergey Moon

To ensure that fresh vegetables get to the market counters, and then to the tables of households, work in “KH Kazakhstan-2030” is in full swing all year round. More than 100 people are employed as seasonal workers, whom Sergey hires in neighboring villages. In the fall, the soil is plowed here, in the winter the seeds are planted, in the spring the cuttings are planted in greenhouses, and in the summer they are taken from the greenhouses to the field. They are harvested only at the end of July – beginning of August.

Sergey Moon has been a loyal client of KMF LLC, the largest microfinance institution in Kazakhstan, for the past few years. In 2019, he bought a drip irrigation system with a loan. Part of the money also went to spring field work. The loan was taken out for three years, with an 11-month grace period. In the winter of the same year, with the help of the KMF, Sergey also paid off suppliers and replenished his working capital. In February 2020, Sergey was able to finance the expansion of the irrigation systems and the purchase of fertilizers, fuel and lubricants with another loan.

According to Sergey Moon, buying a drip irrigation system with the help of a KMF microcredit took his business to a new level. “It’s a huge saving in terms of resources. Above all, time. With the furrow method, it takes us nine hours to irrigate 10 hectares. With drip irrigation, it takes three hours. So we save water because we use it three times less. In addition, you can thus affecting the quality of the products.

Because we can apply any fertilizer directly to the root. And of course all this helps to save on labor costs and survive even the driest years,” says Sergey Moon. Sergey Moon’s farm sells vegetables in almost all regions of Kazakhstan, and also exports to Russia, Kyrgyzstan and other neighboring countries.

*Loans to the microfinance institution via the IIV Mikrofinanzfonds since 2017.

Naim Takaci got the idea of opening his own small dairy business from his parents, who worked in livestock farming and were involved in the production of dairy products. However, the difficulty was to sell the dairy products. So Naim started a small dairy business in his hometown using the products from his parents’ farm.

He decided to open a branch in the capital Tirana after a successful start of the business in the countryside. To do this, he needed start-up capital to finance the machinery and equipment. Through friends, Naim learned about Fondi BESA, one of the most important microfinance institutions in the country.

The loan from Fondi BESA enabled him to start a business with his own production and sales, with the whole family helping. With a second loan from Fondi BESA and – as Naim points out – the support and personal interaction of the loan officer, Naim was able to meet the increasing demand and ensure the high quality of his products.

Fondi BESA speaks of Naim as a reliable customer who always pays back his installments on time and is extremely committed to successfully selling quality dairy products with his farm.

*Loans to the microfinance institution via the IIV Mikrofinanzfonds 2017-2024.