About the event
The European Commission's Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) organised the fi-compass event ‘Financial instruments for microfinance and workers buyout’, from 7 until 9 April 2025 in Madrid, Spain.
The event featured the important role of European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) financial instruments and InvestEU products in supporting inclusive economic growth through microfinance and workers buyout.
The first day of the event explored the landscape of microfinance, featuring insights from representatives from ESF+ managing authorities, public and private financial institutions, experts from the European Commission and the European Investment Bank Group. Discussions covered flagship initiatives like the Spanish social microfinance programme, experiences with ESF/ESF+ financial instruments across member states, and perspectives from financial institutions. The second day of the event shifted focus to strengthening social cohesion building employee ownership, by promoting ‘workers buyout’ mechanism as an efficient tool for addressing business succession challenges and saving employment. Experts shared insights on the recent policy trends, best practices, the role of the cooperative movement and the way forward in promoting employee ownership in the EU.
Presentations
Tuesday, 8 April 2025
The Spanish initiative for social microfinance with support of InvestEU
Experience with microfinance financial instruments under ESF/ ESF+
Financial institutions’ insights on providing microfinance
Wednesday, 9 April 2025
Workers buyout – introduction to the topic, recent developments and trends
fi-compass ESF+ study on workers buyout: key findings and recommendations
Public sector policy perspective
Examples of workers buyout companies
Cooperative movement perspective
Financial institutions’ perspective
Event recordings
Tuesday, 8 April 2025
Wednesday, 9 April 2025
Related resources
This report provides a WBO overview within a European context, defines WBO and the most common models, as well as current trends and insights within the WBO context. The assessment is further enriched with insights collected from the countries analysed, incl. the mapping of the WBO frameworks in France, Spain, Italy and Slovenia and the in-debt case studies.
This handbook provides comprehensive guidance on setting up and implementing financial instruments under the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) to support employment, education and social inclusion.
This factsheet describes how ESF+ financial instruments can be combined with grants. By combining grants with financial instruments, managing authorities can address market failures, stimulate investment, and create more sustainable project pipelines that align with EU policy objectives.
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