Support to MSME Growth Competitiveness and Access to Finance

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The objective of the Support to MSME Growth, Competitiveness and Access to Finance Project is to support micro, small and medium enterprises’ access to markets and access to finance in the Conakry urban area. There are four components to the project, the first component being Support entrepreneurship and MSME Development. This component includes three subcomponents: MSME business development services, connect MSMEs to sales contract opportunities, and support to entrepreneurship and ecosystem providers. The second component is the support financial infrastructure. This component will help set up a retail payment platform connecting financial institutions, making it more efficient for them to provide funding to businesses at a lower cost. Digital data derived from financial transactions processed by the new platform will feed into scoring mechanisms that allow for creditworthiness evaluation of micro-entrepreneurs. The national switch platform has the potential to address the asymmetry of information hampering access to credit. Beyond interoperability, digital platforms today can provide consumer data and analytics that are used as decision-making tools by lenders. This component includes four subcomponents: retail payment infrastructure, digitization of microfinance activities, strengthening credit reporting, and creation of an electronic collateral registry for lending and leasing. The third component is to develop financial services tailored toward MSMEs. This component includes three subcomponents: risk sharing facility, technical assistance, and equity investment ecosystem. Finally, the fourth component is the project management and monitoring. The component will also finance TA to support project implementation costs for procurement, FM, communication, and the monitoring and evaluation (M and E) of the project. It will include operational expenditures, consultant fees and trainings costs, knowledge sharing, and goods and services to equip the PIU and finance the audits.