BRUSOC


Serge VILAIN

Stassartstreet, 32
1050 Brussels - Belgium
Tel: ++32 - (0)2 548 22 11
Fax: ++32 - (0)2 511 90 74
Contact us

www.srib.be

BRIC (Brussels Regional Investment Company) is a partly state-owned venture capital company with 76% of its share capital belonging to the Brussels Capital-Region. Its overall mission is to be one of the main actors of the Belgian VC market targeting mainly Brussels SMEs at any stage of development with almost no sector exclusion. BRIC has always acted as the financial arm of the Brussels State Region Government developing new services or implementing the decisions of the Regional Government through its subsidiaries or the missions that it has been assigned. On 18 May 2000, the government of the Brussels Capital-Region assigned a mission called “Starter Fund & Microcredit” to BRIC. The project was 50% co-financed with the help of the ESF (European Social Fund).
 
BRUSOC, a subsidiary of BRIC, developed three financial instruments: “starter funds”, “microcredit” and “cash credit”, targeting very small enterprises and self-employed people in order to support the development of economic activities in the poorest areas of the Brussels region that were defined as belonging to “Objective 2 Programme Areas”.
 
These three tools exclusively address people for whom accessing a loan is very difficult or impossible, such as those lacking sufficient guarantees or those who have been banned from writing cheques.
 
BRUSOC has already supported more than 300 projects worth more than €6 million.
 
In addition to its financial help, BRUSOC also provides follow-up through one of BRUSOC’s staff for the whole loan period. The follow-up takes place in two stages:
  • Pre-launch follow-up: the analyst in charge helps develop the business plan and the project before addressing the request to BRUSOC’s credit committee.
  • Post-launch follow-up: tailor-made reporting tools are developed for every single project based on the legal, financial or administrative environment.
  • These tools have assisted in the renewal of entire Brussels districts and have also helped provide jobs to long-term unemployed people or, more generally, people benefiting from public social support.