EMN organised its third exchange visit from 26 to 28 October 2005, in Finland. This third round was hosted by Finnvera,  a State owned financing company, member of EMN, offering financing services to promote the domestic operations of Finnish businesses and to further exports and internationalisation of enterprises.

Download the presentation of the exchange visit

During the three day programme, participants had the opportunity to discover the working methods of Finnvera, in several regional offices throughout the country. There they were able to deepen their understanding of the particularities of microcredit in Finland as well as share their own professional experience with Finnvera's credit agents.

The 23 participants, visiting Finnvera's headquarters in Helsinki and the 8 regional offices, were able to meet clients and institutional partners, as well as being explained the specificities of the organisation visited.

The participants included some professionals from Eastern European countries, who were particularly interested in opportunities for expansion learned through other European microfinance and financial institutions, as well as representatives from German, French, Belgium, British and Spanish institutions.

Representing 15 microfinance institutions from 10 European countries, participants of this event illustrated the diversity of the European microcredit field.

As for the previous exchange visits organised, the Finland Exchange Visit was a new success with participants expressing once again their desire that other such events be held in the 2006. You can now download the report of the participants' evaluations here.