In 15 years, Initiative Saint-Martin Active funded and assisted over 689 structures (by means of loans and loan guarantees), it injected over M€ 10.1 into the economy (direct credits, bank credits and engineering funds) and created / maintained over 845 jobs.

The sustainability rate of 3-year companies is 77% (above the national average of 73%) and the loss rate is 1.5% in substance. Despite the local economic context, these two figures reveal that the expertise and assistance work provided by volunteers and permanent employees of the association enable to secure these creative and development initiatives on the long-term.

Today, Initiative Saint-Martin Active has been identified on Saint-Martin soil as a significant actor of social and solidarity economy which managed to place solidarity finance at the service of the economic and social development of its territory. Its offer is perfectly integrated to and known from the main actors in assisting entrepreneurs. Moreover, it is integrated and referenced by the main banking networks active in the field of recovery creation.

As part of the 2014-2020 Guadeloupe Saint-Martin State operational programme implementation and as requested by the European Commission, an ex-ante evaluation was made during the first semester of 2016 to determine market failings in terms of access to VSB/SME funding in Saint-Martin and assess the feasibility and relevance to rally European structural and investment funds (ESIF) to rectify this.

This assessment revealed a need for equity and quasi-equity financing of microenterprises, which are particularly abundant on Saint-Martin territory. Access to funding often is characteristically difficult for this fragile company network, with poor financial structure.

In line with the strategy of national networks strategy and with that of the EFDR ex-ante assessment in favour of company creation and growth, Initiative Saint-Martin Active must:

• give increasing support to creating local companies to create long-term jobs,
• develop the conditions favouring company innovation, growth opportunities and competitiveness improvement,
• ensure the sustainability of existing companies with adapted assistance and financial engineering.

To achieve this, Initiative Saint-Martin Active received a € 2,088,167.00EFDR subsidy and a € 725,420.00 equity infusion for an operation whose total amount is € 2,813,587.00.