Supply and Value Chain Finance

The head of the EU delegation to Egypt, Ambassador Ivan Surkoš reported the European Union (EU), with support from European financial institutions will provide €475 million in loans to support SMEs. 

EU launched the ‘EU Facility for Inclusive Growth and Job Creation,’ which aims to provide an environment of business creation and economic development and generate jobs by supporting enterprise growth and competitiveness, according to the article. 

Digital bulk payments have the potential to connect millions of poor farmers to digital financial services. This report from CGAP and UNCDF recounts UNCDF's efforts to digitize payments to coffee farmers in Uganda, where just 29 percent of adults actively used mobile money in 2014. It shares lessons for donors, financial services providers and agricultural firms that are interested in digitizing agricultural value chains.

A growing number of oil, gas, and mining companies have committed to create more diverse, gender-balanced, inclusive industries – recognizing that it is not only the right thing to do, but it also makes business sense. IFC has developed this toolkit to help oil, gas, and mining companies to meet their gender goals.

This Vuna publication, produced by Value for Women Ltd., is the first in a series of three reports with the goal of guiding small and growing agribusinesses (SGABs) to growth through strategic gender inclusion in climate-smart agriculture (CSA) value chains. The research was commissioned by Vuna, a three-year regional CSA programme funded by UK aid (DFID), and implemented by Adam Smith International in five countries of East and Southern Africa: Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

This year’s report focuses on regions as a stepping stone to international value chains for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It provides new evidence showing that deep regional integration is good for SMEs. These agreements can be both powerful and inclusive.

The report combines data analysis, academic insights, thought leader opinions and case studies to provide guidance for policymakers, business managers and trade and investment support institutions.

The report provides:

SME Finance Forum member the European Investment Bank (EIB), has signed a financing agreement of EUR 250 million with Banque Misr to finance investments by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and midcaps in the manufacturing and services sectors to improve their competitiveness in Egypt. The financing agreement is expected to sustain thousands of jobs in Egyptian enterprises.

The SME Finance Monitor was established in 2011 and provides detailed analysis of SMEs and their access to finance on a half yearly basis. The latest full report (YEQ2 2017) was published on September 14, 2017. As fieldwork takes place on a continuous basis, it is also possible to provide headline data on key issues in between these full reports. This pack will therefore be provided on a monthly basis and provide the latest 3 months rolling data across a range of issues.