Proparco’s 10-year anniversary issue of the Private Sector & Development magazine focuses on SME finance in Africa. As with each issue, Member Proparco gives a voice to a wide range of contributors: entrepreneurs, economists or fintech experts, allowing us to take a fresh look at the subject of SME financing, have a feeling from the ground of the difficulties still encountered by SMEs in Africa, and see the possible practical solutions.

Members IDB Invest and Overseas Private Investment Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding  pledging to invest a combined $3 billion in development projects in Latin America and the Caribbean over the next five years, with the option of increasing the investment to $5 billion. IDB Invest and OPIC aim to match this investment by catalyzing additional capital from the private sector, for a total ranging between $6 billion and $10 billion.

Queen Máxima of the Netherlands celebrates 10 years as the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA). The UN released a video on Twitterof the Queen talking about the improvements in financial inclusion over the past ten years. “We have made great progress in financial inclusion in the last ten years. Financial inclusion is a means to improve our Sustainable Development Goals from women’s empowerment, water sanitation, clean energy, reduction of poverty, food security, etc,” she said.

Member Mastercard and Rabobank announced a strategic partnership to give one million farmers in emerging markets access to a digital platform that makes it easier for them to sell their produce for a fair price. The platform builds on the current Mastercard Farmer Network and will be enriched by Rabobank’s expertise and reach in the food and agricultural sectors acr

Originally posted on the World Bank Blogs Platform.

Have you noticed the large number of digital trails that are left behind in your browser and social media? Have you ever received an offer for a product or service that you were just thinking of?  A friend of mine was researching about a critical illness and looking for insurance plans on the internet at the same time, and she started receiving ads to secure “the right spot” in a graveyard!  

Kabbage founders raise $11M for Drum, an SMB marketplace for sourcing salespeople, goods and services. Two serial entrepreneurs who have already built one big startup catering to SMBs — loans platform Kabbage — are launching another effort to help fill that gap. Drum, billed as a marketplace for businesses both to source sales people and sell their goods and services, not just for SMBs but any direct online brands seeking to market to SMBs or consumers, has raised $11 million in funding to launch its company and to — yes — drum up new business.

Washington, D.C., September 23rd, 2019 – Infini became the newest member of the SME Finance Forum, a global membership network that brings together financial institutions, technology companies, and development finance institutions to share knowledge, spur innovation, and promote the growth of SMEs. 

BFA is about to conclude our FIBR (Financial Inclusion on Business Runways) Project, an innovative R&D initiative which sought to demonstrate how smartphones can accelerate and deepen financial inclusion in developing countries. When we launched the FIBR Project in 2015, we outlined a set of assumptions about how increased connectivity and digitization would create “business runways for financial inclusion” for small businesses in Africa, helping to accelerate the ongoing process toward greater inclusion.

This publication, by Hans van Grieken and Andries van Dijk from Deloitte, analyzes the growing impact of ‘digital’ on all aspects of business, from strategy to operations, and how it is driving change in organisations that goes beyond the ‘traditional’ IT model.