Praxis helps support dental care in Senegal

Senegal, like many developing countries, faces a shortage of dental surgeons, and is estimated to have only one dentist for every 39,000 people. Ecole Dentaire Internationale is helping to address this by providing dentistry training to 30 students.

EDI is owned and managed by three dentists, including a female dental surgeon.

EDI’s funding comes from GroFin, a lender founded in 2014 that believes growing small businesses to create sustainable jobs is the most powerful driver of social and economic development that truly improve people’s lives. Headquartered in Mauritius, GroFin has invested capital and technical assistance in over 700 small and medium enterprises in 14 countries in Africa and the Middle East, sustaining over 77,000 jobs. They mainly focus on small businesses operating in education, health care, agri-processing, manufacturing and key services (water, energy and sanitation).

GroFin’s continued business support to EDI has included helping to improve the financial management skills of these medical professionals, and formalizing their accounting practices. GroFin is also helping EDI to formalize the employment of its workers to improve the business’s labor practices and provide greater job security to its 30 employees, which includes 19 women.

GroFin provided EDI with financing for new state-of-the-art dental chairs and equipment to improve the quality of its training and care. EDI also runs an in-house dental clinic to provide students with practical experience and give patients access to affordable dental care.

The Praxis commitment
Praxis Mutual Funds supports organizations such as the GroFin through investments in Calvert Impact, an impact-investing institution that helps people around the world through community development financing. It’s part of the Praxis commitment to place approximately 1% of each of its funds to benefit neighborhoods and individuals through community development investments.