The Guarantee Fund for microcredit in Piemonte represents an endeavour  to put experiences in the field of microcredit to good use. One of these is Social Microcredit of the Compagnia di San Paolo, an experimental project which was set up between 2003 and 2009 and for which the foundation has allocated over 2.9 million Euros in contributions.

Social Microcredit of the Compagnia di San Paolo was begun to aid the granting of loans by banks in favour of people who have difficulties in accessing credit because of their social and/or economic condition, in order to sustain their jobs and/or the development of their economic activity. There are four territorial contexts – the Archbishopric of Torino, the Province of Genova, the Province of Napoli, and the Lazio Region – connected to the four organizations of reference, singled out as the Don Mario Operti Onlus Foundation, issuing  from the Archbishopric of Torino, the Genova’s Anti-usury Foundation Santa Maria del Soccorso Onlus, the Risorsa Donna Foundation of Roma, and the S. Giuseppe Moscati Onlus Foundation of Napoli. The experiment has shown, on the one hand, the importance of assisting micro-entrepreneurs along the way towards the development of their business and, on the other, the improvement of the economic and social condition of the grantees.

The participation of the Compagnia di San Paolo in the Guarantee Fund for Microcredit in Piemonte stems from the intention to extend the possibility of benefiting from Microcredit to all citizens resident in Piemonte, by adhering to the regional network.