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28 Jul, 2021
Online
Open Virtual Roundtable Series #31 -Transitioning from Relief to Recovery

Open Virtual Roundtable Series #31 -Transitioning from Relief to Recovery

Policy & Regulation
Managing Portfolios as Subsidies and Accommodations End The COVID-19 pandemic has caused economic hardship to millions of SMEs. To help SMEs survive through this crisis, governments have been granting subsidies and loan repayments holidays. Financial institutions also offered adjustments. Many of those support programs have expired or are ending in the next few months. This session will examine how leading regulated financial institutions are handling the transition period in their countries, as government support comes to an end, loan moratoria and other adjustments also conclude, and...
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Our Events

31 Dec, 2021
Immersion Programs

Immersion Programs

The SME Finance Forum's Immersion Programs are aimed at providing our members with 1-2 day exposure visits to high performing regional or global financial institutions or fintechs to gather in depth knowledge about an innovative aspect of their...
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31 Dec, 2021
Communities of Practice

Communities of Practice

With strong interests and requests from members, the SME Finance Forum has launched communities of practices (CoPs) to allow experts and practitioners from member institutions to share knowledge and good practices in their respective areas with one...
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31 Dec, 2021
Study Visits

Study Visits

The SME Finance Forum's study visits are an integral part of the peer learning opportunities to know more about the latest fintech innovations and good practice in SME banking and non-financial services from local institutions. During these visits,...
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31 Dec, 2021
Online
Member Spotlights

Member Spotlights

The Member Spotlight is intended for individual member institutions to showcase their good practice examples that are relevant and useful to the global community of SME financiers. With a webinar-style format, sessions are designed and delivered by...
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29 Dec, 2021
COVID-19 Roundtables

COVID-19 Roundtables

Covid-19
During this time of unprecedented crisis, the SME Finance Forum, as a global SME finance community, is committed to supporting its members and partners. In this repository, we will share resources, events, and other vital information relevant to the...
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29 Dec, 2021
Webinar
Monthly Webinars

Monthly Webinars

Each month the SME Finance Forum organizes webinars for its members. Members can tune in to the webinars via WebEx or Zoom. The webinars are designed to be interactive and we encourage members to ask questions and engage in a discussion with the...
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18 Oct, 2021
Annual Conferences

Annual Conferences

The Global SME Finance Forum is the annual flagship event of the SME Finance Forum, where senior executives from hundreds of banks, NBFI, development finance institutions, and fintech companies participate from around the world. The three-day...
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18 Oct, 2021
Online
Global SME Finance Forum 2021: Greening SME Finance

Global SME Finance Forum 2021: Greening SME Finance

Sustainable Finance
Global SME Finance Forum 2021 – Greening SME Finance – October 18 th to 21st As the governments around the world are wrestling to contain the spread of COVID-19 and its unprecedented impacts on people’s lives and the economies around the globe, this...
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26 Aug, 2021
Online
African lady with yellow shirt holding a tablet with coin stack on top

Women’s Entrepreneurship Finance Community of Practice (CoP) - Next Meeting

Gender Finance
Background The objective of the new Women Entrepreneurs Financing Community of Practice (CoP) is to effectively share knowledge and best practices, tools and innovative products to facilitate increased services to W-SMEs. To discuss and agree on how...
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11 Aug, 2021
Online
African lady holding a cell phone, logo eTumba image with Dial *888#

Member Spotlight with Access Holding: Digitalization for the Bottom-Of-The-Pyramid

Digital Financial Services
Member Spotlight #7 with Access Holding featuring AB Bank Zambia: Digitalization for the Bottom-Of-The-Pyramid What does it take to successfully enhance financial inclusion through digitalization and increase client outreach and engagement? AB Bank...
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04 Aug, 2021
Webinar
Drawing of hand shake in blue background with title SME Finance Marketplace Session with Fintechs on August 4th 2021

SME Finance Virtual Marketplace - Third Session - Fintechs

Digital Transformation
Fintech
The “SME Finance Virtual Marketplace” is an online match-making platform that promotes partnership and collaboration between members of the SME Finance Forum, especially financial institutions, fintech companies and development finance institutions...
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28 Jul, 2021
Online
Open Virtual Roundtable Series #31 -Transitioning from Relief to Recovery

Open Virtual Roundtable Series #31 -Transitioning from Relief to Recovery

Policy & Regulation
Managing Portfolios as Subsidies and Accommodations End The COVID-19 pandemic has caused economic hardship to millions of SMEs. To help SMEs survive through this crisis, governments have been granting subsidies and loan repayments holidays...
More
15 Jul, 2021
AgriFinance Community of Practice (CoP) - Movable Collateral

AgriFinance Community of Practice (CoP) - Movable Collateral

The SME Finance Forum is convening a group of agrifinance experts and practitioners from member and non-member institutions in order to discuss and document recent innovations in agrifinance. This will lead to creating a community of practice on...
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14 Jul, 2021
Online
Hands holding a circle with a piggy bank with a mask inside

Virtual Roundtable Series #30 - Bank & Big Tech Partnerships Post-COVID

Digital Financial Services
COVID-19 has created new challenges in the SME Finance ecosystem, which require new solutions and strategic partnerships. That is why so many banks around the world are partnering with Big Tech companies to provide solutions for their SME clients...
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08 Jul, 2021
Webinar
SME Finance Virtual Marketplace - Second Session - Fintechs

SME Finance Virtual Marketplace - Second Session - Fintechs

Fintech
The “SME Finance Virtual Marketplace” is an online match-making platform that promotes partnership and collaboration between members of the SME Finance Forum, especially financial institutions, fintech companies and development finance institutions...
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07 Jul, 2021
Webinar
Man in suit putting a bitcoin inside a piggy bank with a DEFI label

Open Webinar - Fundraising for SMEs and Startups: DeFi vs. CeFi

Fintech
Decentralized finance (DeFi) is usually considered as a blockchain-based form of financial technology (FinTech) that removes intermediaries when offering financial instruments such as loans, securities and commodities. Centralized finance (CeFi), on...
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30 Jun, 2021
Online
Member Spotlight #6 Jumo: Using technology to meet the finance needs of West Africa’s informal sector

Member Spotlight #6 Jumo: Using technology to meet the finance needs of West Africa’s informal sector

JUMO , a technology company building next-generation financial services for emerging market entrepreneurs, has been named Platinum winner of the Responsible Digital Innovator of the year award, and Silver winner of the Product Innovation of the Year...
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24 Jun, 2021
Webinar
Woman with mask and delivering a bill

Open Webinar - Directed Lending for SMEs: How to Make It Work

Sustainable Finance
This webinar has been rescheduled to June 24th, 2021 - 8 am EDT. Please use the same link to register. One way of targeting investment to the businesses that need it the most is through an approach known as ‘directed lending’. It’s an approach...
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23 Jun, 2021
Webinar
Member Only Webinar - Innovations and Technology Disrupting SME Insurance

Member Only Webinar - Innovations and Technology Disrupting SME Insurance

SME Insurance
by invitation only In this webinar, you will hear from companies focused on providing insurance solutions to SMEs in different countries. We will discuss how recent developments in technology are impacting the insurance market for SMEs and how...
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16 Jun, 2021
Webinar
Woman sitting on a computer with a background of tech icons

Open Webinar: Supply Chain Finance for Women-SMEs

Gender Finance
Supply & Value Chain Finance
Supply Chain Finance (SCF) is an effective solution to extend access to finance to SMEs by developing a technology-driven low-risk product aimed to channel liquidity to the strategically important value chains. It also has strong potential to close...
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02 Jun, 2021
Online
Virtual Roundtable Series #29 - The Role of Alternative Data in Ensuring Access to Finance for SMEs post-COVID

Virtual Roundtable Series #29 - The Role of Alternative Data in Ensuring Access to Finance for SMEs post-COVID

Data Analytics
The pandemic increased the degree of information asymmetry between lenders and borrowers. Traditional data sources and risk models may not be fully updated and well-calibrated to provide an accurate assessment of SMEs’ capacity to repay in the post-...
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26 May, 2021
Online
Piggy bank, mask, calculator and sign INSOLVENT

Virtual Roundtable Series #28 - Handling Insolvency during Crisis: What Will SMEs Need?

Covid-19
Operational Risk
The COVID-19 pandemic was expected to lead to a ‘tsunami’ of insolvency cases. Instead, unprecedented regulatory forbearance and fiscal support have, for the most part, prevented this wave. As these support measures recede, are we likely to see a...
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25 May, 2021
Online
Women’s Entrepreneurship Finance Community of Practice (CoP) - Successful Models: Addressing Barriers in Financing Women SMEs

Women’s Entrepreneurship Finance Community of Practice (CoP) - Successful Models: Addressing Barriers in Financing Women SMEs

Background The objective of the new Women Entrepreneurs Financing Community of Practice (CoP) is to effectively share knowledge and best practices, tools and innovative products to facilitate increased services to W-SMEs. To discuss and agree on how...
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19 May, 2021
Online
Man in suit, holding a piggy bank with mask and coins in the background

Virtual Roundtable Series #27 - Government Support for Alternative Financiers in COVID Recovery

Policy & Regulation
Covid-19
By invitation only To mitigate the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world launched MSME support programs at an unprecedented scale. Alternative financiers have some of the best digital tools available to deliver...
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12 May, 2021
Online
The New Wave of CX in Banking: Automating Software Ecosystem Access for SMEs - Member Spotlight #5 with FNB

The New Wave of CX in Banking: Automating Software Ecosystem Access for SMEs - Member Spotlight #5 with FNB

In 2020, FNB (First National Bank of South Africa) was recognized with the Gold Award as the SME Bank of the Year , Global Category, by the Global SME Finance Awards 2020 . The Awards are endorsed by the G20’s Global Partnership for Financial...
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05 May, 2021
Webinar
African woman with drawing of a brain with dots and icons

Open Webinar - Making AI-based Finance Work for Women

Gender Finance
Digital Transformation
A discussion with Women's World Banking and Friends. In 2020, Women’s World Banking began a journey to understand algorithmic bias as it relates to women’s financial inclusion. This topic is especially important as we speed into a digital finance...
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28 Apr, 2021
Webinar
Little business man standing on a calculator with credit cards and money on the background

Open Webinar - Unlocking Digitalization Opportunities for Banks and SMEs

Fintech
While many SMEs were already undergoing a digital transformation, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the pace of this digitalization of small businesses. Digital and cashless payments, ecommerce, and the pivot to a digital-first economy is unlocking...
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27 Apr, 2021
Online
AgriFinance Community of Practice (CoP) - Leveraging Digital Technologies in AgriFinance

AgriFinance Community of Practice (CoP) - Leveraging Digital Technologies in AgriFinance

Rural & Agriculture Finance
The SME Finance Forum is convening a group of agrifinance experts and practitioners from member and non-member institutions in order to discuss and document recent innovations in agrifinance. This will lead to creating a community of practice on...
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21 Apr, 2021
Webinar
Drawing of handshake in blue with SME Finance Forum Logo and title SME Finance Marketplace

SME Finance Virtual Marketplace Launch - First Session

Non Financial Services
The “SME Finance Virtual Marketplace” is an online match-making platform that promotes partnership and collaboration between members of the SME Finance Forum, especially financial institutions, fintech companies and development finance institutions...
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15 Apr, 2021
Webinar
Close up of two African women with masks

Open Webinar – How Do We Better Support Women-led MSMEs post COVID-19?

Financial Inclusion
Non Financial Services
Gender Finance
Presentation of the IFC's Study on COVID-19 and Women-led MSMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa: Examining the Impact, Responses, and Solutions Over 90% of MSMEs across sub-Saharan Africa are suffering harsh economic impacts due to the COVID-19 pandemic...
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