The Estonian Rural Development Foundation (the Foundation) was founded by The Government of the Republic of Estonia in 1993. The foundation issued guarantees to banks for credits granted to farmers and other entrepreneurs in Estonian rural areas.
Today the purpose of the Foundation is to support economic development in Estonian rural areas via specific programmes implemented for promoting business activities in those areas. The Foundation’s specific programmes are aimed at expanding the availability of financial resources, supporting balanced development in rural areas, disseminating information on rural life, maintaining cultural traditions, supporting vocational education, and building the image of rural life with a view of improving the business environment and creating better living conditions in rural areas.
The activities of the Foundation are divided into the following subgroups:
issuing credit and other debt obligation guarantees (standing surety);
The Foundation can guarantee up to 80% of the loan amount. Maximum guarantee amount to one borrower is 2,5 million EUR. The Foundation can offer guarantees for all small and medium-sized enterprise in rural area (including agricultural enterprises).
lending;
Loans are granted to small and medium-sized enterprise via credit and financial institutions and directly to savings and loan associations, and to non-profit associations.
building the image of rural life;
Starting from 2006 the Foundation started to give financial support to students of rural vocational education institutions, to recognise the best students of rural economics and the best teacher. Foundation also presents the Best Dairy Farmer’s award and the Best Beef Farmer’s award. Together with the Ministry of Agriculture, we carrie out a project contest (aimed mainly at school students) intended for building the image of rural life.
biomass and bioenergy;
Under a contract made with the Ministry of Agriculture, in 2006-2008 we rendered services to the state for implementing a Development plan for promoting the utilisation of biomass and bioenergy.