Help micro-entrepreneurs facing violence in Haiti

Faced with socio-political instability and insecurity, Palmis Mikwofinans Sosyal is rallying alongside micro-entrepreneurs who are fighting to keep their businesses afloat. Some, forced to flee their region, have had to start all over again elsewhere.

In Haiti, ravaged by political crises, gang violence, and climate shocks, the economy is struggling to stay afloat and salaried jobs are scarce. To survive, the most vulnerable set up fruit stalls, small sewing workshops, street restaurants, and other businesses with almost nothing. But to transform these initiatives into activities that can lift them out of poverty in the long term, they sorely lack training and capital.

To respond to this urgent need, Entrepreneurs du Monde created Palmis Mikwofinans Sosyal (PMS) in 2003, a microfinance institution with a strong social focus dedicated to supporting these micro-entrepreneurs. While 80% of microfinance institutions have left Haiti in the last three years, PMS is one of the last five still operating.

The team gives vulnerable entrepreneurs access to:

- an individual savings account

- loans without collateral or guarantees

- training (management, sales, health, agriculture, environment, protection of women and children, etc.)

- social support to deal with specific difficulties: health, schooling, family problems, obtaining identity papers, etc.

In addition to financing their business, the loans also enable them to purchase a solar kit and/or a clean cooking stove from Palmis Enèji, the second social enterprise created by Entrepreneurs du Monde in Haiti.

Today, PMS has four local branches in Port-au-Prince, the southwest, and the center of the country, enabling it to remain close to the families it supports.