AgroInvest’s operations primarily put the focus on people in rural areas who are poor, but who have a strong sense of entrepreneurship - they aspire to create and to run their own small businesses. Since Serbia doesn’t have a Regulatory Framework for Microfinance, AgroInvest lends through a partner bank. The company offers five different types of rural products. AgroInvest is investigating the development of a Group Lending product, thus, it approached EMN for a peer-to-peer visit.

After analysing different aspects, AgroInvest chose to visit Ustoi from Bulgaria. One Regional Manager and one Team Leader from AgroInvest attended the visit that was coordinated and planned in advance. The purpose was to learn about Ustoi’s business model, but, primarily to learn about the group lending methodologies and to see the clients who use group lending products.