7.20.2005 ET

(CSRwire) BETHESDA, MD. - The non-profit Calvert Foundation is launching a new Middle East Microcredit Giftshare project in order to extend much-needed microloans to woman-owned small businesses owners and other entrepreneurs in the Middle East. Calvert Foundation is putting up $25,000 for investment in the Microfund For Women in Jordan (MFWJ).

Recently, attention has focused on the growing demand for micro-financing in the Middle East. The number of women and others in desperate need of loans for small-business start-up costs and pre-financing is projected to triple in the next few years, according to experts at the World Economic Forum held in Amman, Jordan on May 21.

Founded in 1996, the Microfund for Women in Jordan provides individual and group loans ranging from roughly US $300 to US $3,500. MFJW's three-year business plan for 2005-2007 includes plans for wider lending activity, the launch of a new insurance product and a new line of loans for home-based businesses. The Microfund is projecting a 39 percent increase in its lending portfolio to US $8.5 million by the end of fiscal year 2007.

Calvert Foundation Executive Director Shari Berenbach said: "Now more than ever, entrepreneurs and small business owners in the Middle East are in dire need of capital.  We have a long way to go.  There are believed to be one million or more micro-entrepreneurs, many of them women, who remain unserved by conventional banking channels.  Yet micro-enterprise and small business growth is essential for economic stability and growth in the region."

Calvert Foundation's investment aims to help women like Bassema Mahmoud Othman Khalil, who with no more than 100JD, started a small banana stand. In two years time she owned and operated a chain of fruit stands, a coffee and tea bar, and a bakery, all of which are financially successful. "My family and children continuously say they are proud of me and all that I've accomplished," Bassema explains, "I am a simple woman with big dreams and the determination to make them come true."

The Middle East Microcredit Giftshare is being launched with Calvert Foundation's investment of $25,000 in the Microfund for Women in Jordan. This new investment is financed with donated dollars and is built upon the Calvert Foundation's 10 years of experience funding microcredit on a global basis. All Giftshare donations are tax-deductible and become part of a permanent and professionally managed microcredit pool overseen by Calvert Foundation.

Jordan is classified as a middle-income country with income per capita of US $2,100, making it one of the poorer countries in the Middle East. It has a small population of five million, which is growing at the rapid rate of approximately 3 percent per year. No less than 70 percent of the nation's population is under the age of 30. The war in Iraq and the continuing instability in the West Bank and Gaza have had a negative impact on the local economy, depriving the country of important export markets and flooding the workforce with migrant workers. Volatility in oil prices also has taken its toll.

ABOUT CALVERT FOUNDATION
The Calvert Foundation (www.CalvertFoundation.org) is an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that uses the power of investment to revitalize poor communities, reverse inequality and create hope and opportunity where it's most needed.  The Calvert Foundation receives investment capital from individuals and institutions, and uses industry-leading due diligence to select and manage a diversified portfolio of high social impact investments. Over the past 10 years, Calvert Foundation has recycled more than $250 million in investments that have helped to create over 100,000 jobs for low income individuals, built of rehabilitated approximately 6,000 affordable homes, and financed more than 5,000 nonprofit facilities, including daycare centers, community health clinics, and schools.
 
Calvert Foundation makes available a wide range of innovative financial instruments. Our Web-based information services and philanthropic products include Community Investment Notes, the Community Investment Profile Database, the Calvert Giving Fund, and Community Giftshares. Calvert Foundation is a separate entity from Calvert Group Ltd. and its products should not be confused with any Calvert Group-sponsored investment product.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Digital photographs are available upon request.

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