The Banker's economics editor Silvia Pavoni talks to Roger Havenith, deputy chief executive of the European Investment Fund, and Adel Meer, head of SME finance at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) about how their organisations can help fill the global $5,200bn finance gap for micro, small and medium-sized businesses. The interview took place at the SME Finance Forum in Berlin.
Japan has pledged US$50 million (S$67.9 million) to a global initiative that promotes female entrepreneurship, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday, Nov 3 to an audience that included Ivanka Trump, senior advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump.
This will make the country the largest financial contributor in the Women's Entrepreneur Finance Initiative, a public-private loan programme by the World Bank that was championed by Ms Trump and launched at this year's Group of 20 (G-20) summit.
Berlin, 3 November, 2017 -- IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, pays special attention to small businesses because they are the engines of job creation and economic growth. Nine out of ten new jobs worldwide are created by small businesses, and we need nearly 3,3 million jobs every month in emerging markets by 2030 to absorb the growing workforce. Lack of access to finance is one of the biggest hurdles small businesses face that prevent them from growing and creating jobs.
Anne-Marie Chidzero Managing Partner, Alitheia Identity, and Board Member, Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund and Women’s World Banking, suggests ways in which the World Bank Group can help catalyze private sector growth in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including supporting small and medium sized businesses (SMEs), especially women-led businesses.
This interview took place following IEG's IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings event, "Harnessing the Power of the Private Sector In Support of Sustainable Development."
Just three months ago, at the G20 leaders’ summit in Hamburg, Germany,the creation of We-Fi, an innovative new facility to advance women’s entrepreneurship and help women in developing countries increase their access to the finance, markets, technology, and networks necessary to start and grow a business, was announced. We-Fi aims to leverage donor funding to unlock more than $1 billion in International Financial Institution (IFI) and commercial financing by working with financial intermediaries, funds and other market actors.
Technology is revolutionising trade finance while facilitating lending to small businesses by tech giants such as PayPal, Amazon and Alibaba. But is this enough to fill the $1500bn global trade finance gap? Stefania Palma from The Banker investigates.
Globally, access to finance remains one of the most significant constraints to the growth, productivity and even survival of SMEs – and to the critical jobs they create. The SME credit gap is both a demand and supply side problem. On the demand side, many SMEs cannot get access to credit because bankers cannot see the critical information they require to assess creditworthiness. To most bankers, this means they lack financial documentation, business plans, collateral, etc.
Small and Medium-Sized enterprises (SMEs) make up a large majority of businesses globally and play a crucial role in global economic development through job creation, economic growth, and innovation. For the health of the global economy, it is imperative that they have access to the needed credit to grow and expand. Credit infrastructure remains an important element in ensuring that SMEs (and others) have access to credit when needed and at the lowest possible cost.
Research & Market Analysis (RMA) has the presents "Financing Micro Firms in Europe: An Empirical Analysis", n.44 of EIF's Working Paper Series.
As SME lenders, we face the challenge of satisfying simultaneous objectives—shareholder return, borrower empowerment, economic development and financial inclusion—all within regulatory compliance. Even the most capable underwriters struggle to do all of these well, especially all at the same time.
