Microfinance Focus, January 18, 2012: Citi Foundation has recently joined hands with Mikrofond and Microfinance Centre to support a Financial Education Project which aims to strengthen the financial capability of low-income households in Bulgaria.

The project will reach 25 local trainers and counsellors from the microfinance community in Bulgaria, who will gain knowledge and expertise in delivering high-quality financial education workshops and counselling sessions to low-income people in both urban and rural areas. The Training of Trainers will take place in the period January 9-13, 2012 at Starozagorski mineralni bani in Grodi Hotel.

Through the project, more than 300 individuals will improve their basic financial practices by learning how to create and use a repayment calendar, calculate their own savings capacity, and plan and put to practice an internal emergency fund.

"We, at Mikrofond, believe that financial education is increasingly becoming a valuable part of the service we provide to the communities we operate in," explains Mr. Georgi Breskovski, Executive Director of Mikrofond AD. "We are committed to raising the awareness of our community about the benefits and risks of using loan capital and to promoting responsible use of credit. We are glad that the project will provide a knowledge asset to our beneficiaries that will help them endure the challenging years that lay ahead of us."

Mikrofond is a member of the Microfinance Center Poland and of the European Microfinance Network. The company provides fixed interest rate start-up loans, agricultural loans, micro-business loans, student business loans and energy efficiency loans through a network of 12 branches throughout Bulgaria.