Global Council for Business Resilience joins the SME Finance Forum
March 17, 2026: The Global Council for Business Resilience (GCBR) has joined the SME Finance Forum as the global membership network’s latest affiliate. The 250+ members/affiliates of the Forum are SME financing experts operating in 190 countries who share the common goal of expanding access to finance to small businesses worldwide through knowledge exchange and innovation.
"It is with great pleasure I welcome the Global Council for Business Resilience (GCBR) to SME Finance Forum. I look forward to collaborating with them to advance SMEs’ crisis preparedness and resilience across businesses, institutions, and the wider financial ecosystem,” said Qamar Saleem, Head of SME Finance Forum.
GCBR is an international nonprofit initiative focused on strengthening crisis preparedness and resilience across economic ecosystems, with particular emphasis on SMEs. The council brings together leaders from business, finance, academia, and public policy to develop practical resilience frameworks and training that help SMEs strengthen business continuity, improve access to knowledge and resources, and foster collaboration between businesses, financial institutions, and policymakers to support resilient and financially inclusive economic systems. It also promotes a human-centered approach to crisis leadership — recognizing that resilient organizations are built not only through systems and processes but through empowered people and informed decision-making.
On joining SME Finance Forum as its affiliate Maryna Peikova, President, Global Council for Business Resilience, said, “Small and medium enterprises are the backbone of the global economy — representing 90% of businesses and creating most of the world’s jobs. Yet they are also the most vulnerable during crises. At the Global Council for Business Resilience, we believe that resilience must become a core capability of every SME, not a luxury available only to large corporations. Through this collaboration with the SME Finance Forum, we aim to share practical frameworks, real crisis leadership experience, and accessible tools that help businesses prepare, adapt, and survive in an increasingly volatile world. Building resilient SMEs is not only a business priority — it is an economic stability imperative.”
SME Finance Forum: Innovation & Partnership for Micro, Small, Medium Sized Enterprises ( MSMEs) Growth
The SME Finance Forum, backed by G20 and IFC/World Bank, is the leading global network of 250+ members/affiliates operating in 190 countries. The network comprises of SME focused institutions providing and enabling finance and services- banks, non-banks financial institutions, fintech, payment platforms, development institutions, credit guarantee companies, insurers, investment funds, supply chain linked players, banking and SME associations, policy advocates, regulators, academia, consulting houses, knowledge aggregators.
Our member, affiliates, and associated stakeholders benefit from learning/replicating best practices from across the world, innovating new products for business growth, acquiring risk mitigation tools, establishing partnerships, attracting investors, and being recognized amongst a peer group of global innovators. Our activities consist of “members only” offerings (like innovation hubs, solutions clinics, peer group networks, study tours, specialized tools and trainings, member portal repository,
partnered initiatives) as well as public services (200+ publications library, 500+ videos, webinars, newsletters, trainings, annual awards, annual event etc.)
Discover the SME Finance Forum members/affiliates:
About Global Council for Business Resilience
Global Council for Business Resilience (GCBR) is an international nonprofit initiative dedicated to strengthening crisis preparedness and resilience across businesses, institutions, and economic ecosystems.
Founded by wartime CEO and resilience expert Maryna Peikova, GCBR brings together global leaders from business, academia, technology, and public policy to transform real crisis experience into practical resilience frameworks. GCBR focuses particularly on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) — which represent 90% of businesses and 70% of global employment but often lack access to affordable crisis preparedness tools and structured resilience training.
Through research, training, policy dialogue, and cross-sector collaboration, GCBR works to:
• Strengthen SME crisis preparedness and business continuity
• Develop practical resilience frameworks and leadership training
• Translate real crisis experience into actionable knowledge • Support global collaboration between business, finance, and policymakers
• Build a global ecosystem of resilience experts and practitioners
The Council promotes a human-centered approach to crisis leadership — recognizing that resilient organizations are built not only through systems and processes but through empowered people and informed decision-making.
Learn more:
Website: https://global-council-for-business-resilience.org/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-council-for-business-resilience