Public-Private Dialogue Making Finance Work for MSMEs towards recovery in the WAEMU region

November 23, 2021

 

On 30th November 2021, 8:00am – 11:00am (Eastern Standard Time) 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm (West Africa Time), UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa (UNDP RBA) and the Arab Bank for Africa’s Economic Development (BADEA) in partnership with the Government of Benin will hold a public- private dialogue event to jointly explore the challenges and opportunities for increased access to finance to WAEMU-based MSME and informal sector enterprises, including support for their recovery and resilience in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Overall, the public-private dialogue will be aimed at showcasing solutions successfully implemented in Africa and elsewhere to address the supply and demand side bottlenecks for MSME access to finance; determining entry-points and formulating an appropriate strategy to scale-up the successful MSME finance strategies, models and tools identified by the study; and receiving inputs from participants and stakeholders to update preliminary recommendations towards endorsement. 

 The PPD will draw on the key findings and recommendations of the report on the Mapping of Innovations and Best Practices in MSME and Informal Enterprise Finance Models and Practices and will specifically focus on the following areas: 

            1)  MSME Banking, Trade Finance, and informal sector finance;

            2)  Venture Capital/Private Equity and Stock/Bond Market for MSME Finance;

            3)  Fintech and e-Business Solutions which empower MSME.

            4)  Green and Social Finance.