Originally founded in 1996, Cooperativa de Ahorro y Credito (COAC) Jardin Azuayo is a savings and credit cooperative that offers a wide range of financial products to underserved SMEs, self-employed microentrepreneurs, and salaried workers, especially in the south and central highlands of Ecuador. The cooperative’s name is taken from the resemblance of the Azuay’s valley to a colorful garden. Today, Jardin Azuayo is regulated by the Superintendencia de la Economia Popular y Solidaria (SEPS) and is the second largest cooperative in the country by assets (7.3% of market share).
The cooperative operates in 69 branches across Ecuador and has a fast-growing membership base, serving over 700,000 members, of which 43% are women. Financial cooperatives represent around 25% of assets in Ecuador’s financial sector, primarily serving the poorest segments of the population through microcredit and consumer loans. Jardin Azuayo not only represents one of the best managed cooperatives in the LatAm region, with about $1.6 billion in total assets, but it also provides a unique blend of financial and social value proposition, coming from the strong cooperative philosophy in the Andean region.
In 2023, Jardin Azuayo was able to issue the first social bond in the history of Ecuador through the Inter-American Development Bank (DIB), which is linked to meeting specific objectives in terms of diversity and inclusion. At the core of Jardin Azuayo’s operations is a decentralized structure in which members have both shared responsibility and oversight of the cooperative’s functioning and financial health. DAI Asset Management invested in Jardin Azuayo to facilitate expanded access to financial services for rural microentrepreneurs and SMEs in Southern Ecuador, and ultimately to improve the living standards of those communities.
Rosa Rivas Morejon is the owner of the “La Chilena” farm, located in the Arenillas county within the province of El Oro. She has been a member of Jardin Azuayo cooperative since 2016, along with her husband. Rosa is a very dedicated person to agriculture, primarily focused on the production of bananas and livestock as an additional activity. Under her leadership, the farm has grown substantially and now employs 30 workers. Rosa makes use of the working capital credit line offered by the cooperative, as well as the virtual platform for the payroll of her workers. She considers her employees to be unique and irreplaceable. Rosa highlights the incredible support provided by the cooperative, particularly the inclusion of life insurance tied to one of her loans, following the death of her husband in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rodrigo Chalan is a member of the Jardin Azuayo cooperative, from the town of San Lucas in the province of Loja. He turned to the cooperative to seek a productive loan, with the goal of investing in a greenhouse project for his business focused on strawberry cultivation. Rodrigo has been a member of Jardin Azuayo for the past 13 years. He considers the treatment he has received from the cooperative to be very familiar, and he particularly appreciates the cooperative’s accountability, seriousness, and willingness to collaborate with the credit requirements in order to adapt them to his needs. Rodrigo has openly recommended the Jardin Azuayo cooperative to his family and acquaintances. He highlights the cooperative’s affordable rates for productive credits, especially when compared to other financial entities in the area.
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