MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Government of Sweden Gives $3m for EBRD’s Women in Business Programme for SMEs in Moldova

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based multilateral institution, recently disbursed a grant in the amount of SEK 26 million (USD 3 million) to support its Women in Business Programme in Moldova. The funds, which have been supplied by the Swedish government, are for organizing training sessions, networking opportunities and internet-based mentoring for women entrepreneurs. EBRD’s Women in Business Programme is designed to assist small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are run by women in obtaining access to financing and advisory services in order to make their businesses more competitive.

Upon the signing of the agreement, Angela Sax, the head of EBRD in Moldova, said “with generous assistance from the Swedish government, we have helped transform the performance of 160 small businesses run by talented, passionate Moldovan women…. We now intend not only to increase access to advice for women-run business but also to provide financing for them through local banks, once the modernisation of the banking sector is complete.” To date, the program reportedly has created 500 new jobs in the country.

Previously, the Swedish government disbursed SEK 9 million (USD 1 million) in 2011 to launch the project in Moldova as well as SEK 47 million (USD 5.4 million) in 2014 to help expand the project to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia and Ukraine. As of 2018, the initiative is active in 17 countries, mostly in Central Asia and Eastern Europe, in partnership with 33 local banks.

EBRD was founded in 1991 and has 66 shareholding countries – plus the EU and the European Investment Bank – as of 2018. With a focus on “the promotion of private and entrepreneurial initiative,” it invested EUR 9.7 billion (USD 11.2 billion) during 2017 in companies in 36 countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, North Africa and the Middle East. As of 2018, EBRD has disbursed a total of EUR 1.2 billion (USD 1.4 billion) towards 120 projects in Moldova, resulting in the assistance of approximately 750 SMEs active in the country.

By Nicholas Galimberti, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources

EBRD press release
https://www.ebrd.com/news/2018/ebrd-and-swedish-government-step-up-support-for-moldovan-women-entrepreneurs-.html

Women in Business Programme background
http://www.ebrdwomeninbusiness.com/?s=about

MicroCapital Brief; July 12, 2018: EBRD Loans $59m to Qatar National Bank (QNB) Tunisia for Small, Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) Financing
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-ebrd-loans-59m-to-qatar-national-bank-qnb-tunisia-for-small-medium-sized-enterprise-sme-financing/

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