USAID Mission Director, Jeff Borns, attends the National Small Business Chamber Access to Finance Expo event

Printeremail

USAID’s Financial Sector Program (FSP) collaborated recently with the National Small Business Chamber (NSBC) to support the annual Gauteng Small Medium Enterprise (SME) expo. The expo attracted thousands of SMEs as delegates whom were able to spend the day networking, visiting exhibition booths from business support organization, IT providers, financiers and attend up to eight topical seminars. USAID’s FSP program helps people with great business ideas to access funds and professional guidance. USAID Southern Africa’s Mission Director, Jeff Born, attended the event.
Borns says, “Our approach helps SME entrepreneurs to gain a voice and express their needs. For example, FSP has developed an innovative product for SMEs to access funds via the technology highway—an online tool for business advisors to assist their SME clients to find affordable appropriate finance to help them grow their businesses.”

SMEs struggle to access money for their companies. USAID works with banks and financial institutions to increase lending money to entrepreneurs. The objective of USAID’s FSP is to expand access to financial services and lower financing costs for SMEs, primarily those historically-disadvantaged, through reforming the legal and regulatory framework affecting the financial sector and business environment and improving the commercial viability of lending to SMEs in South Africa. This approach encourages and enables job creation that promotes economic growth.

Read the story on the FSP blog: www.fsp.org.za/blog/