Financial Services
In development cooperation, all financial services provided for people on low incomes in developing countries are bracketed together under the collective term microfinance. Their aim is to give small and medium enterprises access to banking services that allow them to maintain or expand their companies. Swisscontact does not grant microcredits, but instead assists local microcredit banks and savings and credit associations with advice and further training.
Assisted by Swiss banking specialists, Swisscontact facilitates SMEs’ access to savings and loan opportunities by:
- Providing training opportunities for savings and loan cooperatives and other banking institutions
- Training bank staff in the areas of micro-financing and loans for SME
- Organising small companies into savings groups for bank loans with joint and several liability
Swisscontact runs microfinance projects in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Indonesia, Ecuador, Peru and Ukraine.
Read more about this topic: Swisscontact, Projects
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