AfSME West & C

completed

The project will directly engage with FIs, Real sector corporates, SMEs, Trainers, Intermediaries and Key Stakeholders to create an Ecosystem that qualifies and sustains the growth of SMEs to access markets/value chains and suitable finance. Through the following components the West and Central Africa SME program will: 1. Engage Financial Institutions to expand their Non-Financial Services ("NFS") activity for SMEs. 2. Engage IFC's Real sector corporate clients directly or Corporates on the portfolio of FIs (as in component 1) to increase SMEs in their value chains. Most corporates are looking to the SME sector to extend their reach and market share beyond their current segments. 3. Engage intermediaries and stakeholders in FCS/other to improve the SME Ecosystem to access markets/value chains and suitable finance. In FCS and other non FCS countries like Cape Verde, where there may be no FI or Real Sector clients, stakeholder intermediaries like ADEI and Growth Pole Initiatives of the World Bank that have a network of FIs and Multinational companies ("MNCs") targeting SMEs are potential clients/partners in discussion to support SMEs access viable markets and suitable finance. 4) Support the development of a platform of business development services and services providers, a platform of information and e-learning services. This includes the strengthening of the capacity of Local Business Edge and SME Toolkit partners by providing capacity building to certified and potential trainers, develop new content and link them to FIs, Corporates and Intermediaries/stakeholders IFC's Business Edge (Face to Face training) includes manuals and workbooks for 6 areas: Financial Management and Accounting, Human Resource Management, General and Operations Management, Personal Productivity Skills, Tourism and Hospitality and the latest content produced in SSA region, called Governance while the SME Toolkit (on line platform) provides an information dissemination structure and quality assurance to SME training and also provides standardized templates to encourage SMEs to formalize records of their operations etc.