MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Sanad Technical Assistance Facility, Egyptian Credit Bureau I-Score Seek to Boost Finance for Farmers; Agricultural Micro-, Small, Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in Egypt

The Sanad Technical Assistance Facility, which is affiliated with the Luxembourg-domiciled Sanad Fund for MSME (Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprise), has collaborated with the Egyptian Credit Bureau, also known as I-Score, to build an Agricultural Credit Evaluation and Risk Assessment System (ACERS). I-Score will implement this “web-based credit assessment and scoring tool,” with the goal of increasing lender’s confidence in lending to farmers and other agricultural MSMEs.

I-Score Managing Director Mohamed Kafafi argued, “Providing banks [and microfinance institutions] with the necessary information to assist them in growing their portfolios and availing access to credit to different sectors such as the agricultural sector is a major cornerstone in the development of MSMEs and increasing financial inclusion…. ACERS is foreseen to be a crucial tool to increase the flow of credit to the agricultural sector, thus increasing its share in the GDP and increasing the livelihood of the sector for MSMEs and related businesses alike.”

I-Score was established in Egypt in 2005 under the name Egpytian Credit Bureau, and it adopted the commercial name I-Score in 2007. The organization provides credit information products and services to help its members assess the creditworthiness of individuals as well as MSMEs. I-Score’s financials are available in Arabic.

Sanad was founded in 2011 by German development bank Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW). It is funded by Germany’s GLS Bank; the EU; and development finance institutions of the Austrian, German and Swiss governments. Sanad invests in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Territories, Tunisia and Yemen with an emphasis on Egypt and Tunisia. As of 2020, the fund had an outstanding debt portfolio of USD 232 million. It is advised by Germany’s Finance in Motion, which manages assets valued at EUR 2.5 billion (USD 2.7 billion) as of 2020.

By Jessica McLeod, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources

Sanad news release
https://www.sanad.lu/latest-updates/sanad-to-help-egyptian-farmers-obtain-financing-through-new-web-based-credit-scoring-solution

I-Score homepage
http://www.i-score.com.eg

Sanad homepage
https://www.sanad.lu/

Previous MicroCapital article on Sanad
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-sanad-fund-of-msme-loans-10m-to-fondation-arrawaj-de-la-finance-inclusive-of-morocco/

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