Borrow From Shared Interest Society

ARE YOU A FAIR TRADE BUSINESS LOOKING FOR FINANCE?

Shared Interest Society offers a range of export credit facilities and loan finance products for fair trade producers and buyers throughout the world.

WHO WE ARE:

Shared Interest was founded in 1990 in the north-east of England. Since then we have expanded and we now have satellite offices in Kenya, Ghana and Peru as well as an on-the-ground presence in Costa Rica.

We are a co-operative lending society with nearly 9,000 UK-based members. Between them they have invested the Share Capital that we hold in British Pounds (GBP) but lend out in currency.

We strive to be an ethical and responsible lender. Our principal aim is to provide financial support to and share risk with producers, farmers and artisans in the developing world. We also lend to buyers in Europe, the United States and Australasia working with disadvantaged producers.

Shared Interest is a strong supporter of fair trade and has staff members on the Boards of both the World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO) and the Fairtrade Foundation, the UK's licensing arm of the Fairtrade International (FLO).

HOW OUR LENDING WORKS:

• We lend to facilitate trade, build capacity and generate growth of organisations
• We lend for the production and procurement of both handicrafts and commodities
• We do not usually require any security
• We lend in most major hard currencies (US Dollars, British Pounds and Euros)
• We recognise that individual organisations have differing requirements so we consider each application on its merits
• We are independent so lending decisions can be made solely by Shared Interest
• We ensure that every customer has a dedicated account manager who handles all transactions and queries.

To learn more about our lending products for fair trade producers and buyers and how to apply, please select whether you are a producer or buyer below.