The UK-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) recently launched a Regional Small Business Program in the city of Tashkent to support financial institutions that serve micro-, small, medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Uzbekistan and nearby countries. The program is to include a digital knowledge-sharing platform as well as classroom training for employees of microfinance institutions and other providers of financial services in the region.
Program partners include the 20-member Uzbekistan Banking Association and the firm that is implementing the project, Internationale Projekt Consult of Germany. The EU provided the funding for the program.
EBRD was founded in 1991 and has 65 shareholding countries as of 2017. With a focus on “the promotion of private and entrepreneurial initiative” in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Northern Africa and the Middle East, it invested EUR 9.4 billion (USD 10.1 billion) in companies in 30 countries during 2016.
Sources and additional resources
EBRD press release
http://www.ebrd.com/news/2018/ebrd-and-eu-launch-regional-small-business-programme-in-uzbekistan-.html
UBA membership
https://www.uba.uz/en/about/members/
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