The FDPA Loan Fund was set up by the authorities of the Foundation for the Development of Polish Agriculture in 1993 to support the rural community during the period of economic transition and adjusting the Polish agriculture to functioning within the European Union structures. Knowing that most people affected by the privatization of state-owned farms will no longer find employment in agriculture, the Foundation decided to focus on promoting entrepreneurship and creating non-agricultural jobs in the countryside and in small towns. The main idea was to help the residents of rural and urban-rural municipalities to re-skill and gain new competences, to support them through trainings, advisory services, grants and loans to start non-agricultural businesses.
The first micro-loan program in Poland supporting rural areas in the provinces of: Małopolska, Podlasie, Mazovia and West Pomerania was created thanks to the funding by the Polish-American Enterprise Fund (Polsko-Amerykański Fundusz Przedsiębiorczości), Caritasverband Deutsch-land and the Levi Strauss Corporation. The Foundation received 3 million PLN. Since then, the FDPA has raised additional funds from numerous domestic, foreign and international organizations and institutions, including the European Union, and continues to support Polish entrepreneurs.
Today, the offer of the FDPA Loan Fund is addressed to all entrepreneurs from the micro, small and medium-sized enterprise sector, both to companies that have been running their business for a long time, and those under construction that are not yet experienced, so-called start-ups. Our programs are designed to: encourage the establishment and development of own businesses, help with running a business, providing funding for business development plans, support the improvement of competitiveness and creating new jobs. We offer financial support in the form of low interest loans which are designed not only to meet the investment, turnover and ad-hoc needs of small businesses, but also to a large extent the educational aspect, as they are targeted, among others, to those who have not previously benefited from external funding.
Our lending activity is carried out through five offices located in the Province of Mazovia: in Płock, Siedlce and Radom, in the Province of West Pomerania – in Połczyn Zdrój and in the Province of Małopolska - in Nowy Sącz.
2022 was for us a year of intensive work on the continuation of loan projects co-funded by the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund under the Regional Operational Programs for years 2007- 2013 as well as all different continuation of different Covid-19 Support Loan Programs. We continued the realization of the following projects:
- MIŚ Loan Fund – co-funded under the Regional Operational Program for the Province of Mazovia
- Loan Fund for the West Pomerania Province within the JEREMIE intiative and Loan Fund for the West Pomerania Province within the JEREMIE 2 intiative – co-funded under the Regional Operational Program for the Province of West Pomerania;
- Loan Fund for the Mazovia Province within the JEREMIE intiative – co-funded under the Regional Operational Program for the Province of Mazovia for 2014-2020
- Loan Fund for the Małopolska Province within the JEREMIE intiative – co-funded under the Regional Operational Program for Małopolska for 2014-2020
- Loan Funds for the Mazovia and West Pomerania Provinces within the POIR initiative – co-funded based on COVID-19 enterprise support programs.
Within the last two years we have granted loans to over 500 SME amounting to over 140 mln PLN.