Support in the Design and the Implementation of the SME Finance Strategy
Client
Digital Bank
Period
09/2020 – 06/2021
Country
South Africa
Project description and context
To support a Digital South African bank in its development in the SME segment, the Dutch Development Bank (FMO) has granted it a guarantee facility under the NASIRA program, to guarantee a share of the amount of credits granted to small and medium-sized enterprises. This guarantee facility targets women and young entrepreneurs.
In order to support the success of the use of this guarantee facility and the development of SME financing activity of the Bank, FMO took over the financing of technical assistance for this bank, to which AMEF Consulting contributed to support of a European partner.
The objectives of this mission are:
- Develop and strengthen the internal capacity of the Bank to effectively provide funding to the Nasira target groups in South Africa through the introduction of new products and funding processes or enhancement of existing ones
- Support the Bank in the development of sustainable non-financial services for target client groups
- Develop the skills of the Bank’s teams in several areas through training and coaching, both in technical skills and soft skills
Work carried out by AMEF Consulting
- Conduct an existing diagnostic to establish the baseline situation and refine the technical assistance program.
This diagnostic phase involved several actions:
- Documentary review and exchange meetings on different topics within the scope of the mission
- Conducting an online survey of around 600 VSE-SME companies
- Focus group animation
- Client portfolio analysis and proposal for VSME client segmentation
- Review of existing financing products and development of new products
- Support for the development of the non-financial service offer for VSE-SME customers
- Support the development of the marketing strategy on the VSME segment
- Animation of trainings on several subjects for the Bank’s teams