SME Growth Employment Creation and Market Linkages Through Trade Finance

The project aims to help stimulate sustainable economic growth and reduce poverty by providing trade finance and technical assistance to micro - small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in developing countries. Trade finance is short-term financing with the purpose of enabling MSMEs to trade both domestically and across borders. This project supports the launch of a trade finance investment fund that aims to leverage at least $45 million in private sector investment which is designed to be lent to MSMEs enabling them to overcome financial barriers to growth. Project activities include: (1) providing technical assistance to select trade finance funds and firms as well as to recipient MSMEs in order to improve supply chain development trade finance products and environmental social and governance standards benefitting both women and men; (2) developing a system to measure the impact by gender on SMEs small-scale suppliers and households to ensure that positive impacts as a result of investments in the SME sector are being felt at the individual level. This project is implemented in collaboration between the Mennonite Economic Development Associates Sarona Asset Management and the University of Waterloo's School for Environment Enterprise and Development.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) better financed SMEs provide jobs to women and men and offer market linkages to smallholder farmers (women and men); (2) SME trade finance firms support SMEs in environmental social (especially gender) and governance areas; (3) and increased use of an enhanced impact measurement system specific to trade finance.