MSME Financing Gateway
How to access the MSME Financing Gateway
What is the MSME Financing Gateway?
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The MSME Financing Gateway is a free to use, multilingual and impartial directory of sources of financing, business support organizations and advisers that enterprises can quickly filter, select and use to link to financing options and business development services that match their needs. The platform can be accessed by mobile devices, PCs and Mac’.
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The MSME Financing Gateway is hosted globally by the International Trade Centre (ITC) on United Nations cloud server facilities, and supported in East Africa by the EAC Secretariat, the European Union, country SME development and investment agencies, banks and MFI associations. Each country platform is hosted by a national representative organisation that manages contents, graphics, news & events, resources and links.
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The platform also provides news and events, notifications of the release of new facilities and services to registered users, hyperlinks to national & regional sources of information, the ITC SME Trade Academy, A Quick Reference Financing Decision Tree, ITC SME Access to financing and SME Trade Financing guides. There is a link to ITCs E-ComConnect public listing of global Shopping Cart and Payments providers for MSMEs engaging in e-commerce.
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Available from November 2022 in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda in English, French, Kiswahili and other languages, the platform plan to reach more than 50,000 members of the host organizations plus other public users on its launch.
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Cross-border view: Users registered in one country can find data, view and connect with financing, investment and business development services of another country that participates in the platform.
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Financing and business development services providers get analytical reports and a direct channel to target clients, who also receive notifications of new facilities, improving client conversion rate.
Why should Financing and Business development services use the MSME Financing Gateway platform?
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Banks and MFIs will receive periodic user activity and enterprise information reports including: geographic, demographic, characteristics, search patterns and click-throughs. This helps financing providers and policymakers to identify unmet MSME financing needs, gauge demand, define market segmentation, position offers and marketing campaigns. After an initial operating period, registered providers will be able to configure their own reports. Providers can quickly test customer reactions to new facilities and services in Beta through the platform’s notifications to subscribers.
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Better informed and prepared MSMEs lead to higher client conversion rates & first agent-client meeting efficiency. MSMEs get information on the type of financing, its purpose, criteria, and documentation requirements. MSME resources include financing decision trees and explanations of the implications of different types of lending, covenants and collaterals.
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No additional financing or business development service provider workload: Quick templates semi-automated notifications and brochure upload facilities reduce the time required by marketing and communications staff to keep facilities up to date or to add new facilities.
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Information provided is kept current through automatic prompts sent when providers’ data has not been changed for a pre- set period. Facilities will be archived if no response is received after two notifications.
Why did ITC develop the MSME Financing Gateway?
1,000s of MSMEs surveyed by ITC and other agencies in 2020 and 2021 said that finding information on COVID recovery cash, financing or business development advice was one of their top priorities. Most entrepreneurs knew less than seven MSME-specific financing providers when there are more than 400 MSMEs financing facilities available across East Africa.
On the other hand, banks reported that over 70 percent of financing applications were initially rejected due to documentation errors or failure to meet basic criteria. At the same time provincial loan officers lose time to respond to many enquiries that simply do not fit with the products they can offer. Consequently, conversation rates from total inquiries to actual loans were below 30 percent. Financing and Business development organizations were looking for one channel to connect directly with the MSME community and introduce them to new products & services.
A series of focus groups in five East African countries involved MSMEs, farmers, banks government agencies, regulators, community financing and business development support providers in design, functionality requirements and beta tests.
The MSME Financing Gateway has been produced with the financial assistance of the EAC Market Access Upgrade (MARKUP) project that is funded by the European Union and implemented by ITC and programmed by Farwell-Innovations Ltd of Nairobi: https://www.farwell-consultants.com
The MSME Financing Gateway in the future
The MSME Financing Gateway is built on open-source software, ensuring transparency and flexibility. As a UN agency, ITC maintains ownership and oversees the platform's development. The platform is globally hosted on the UN Computing Centre's secure cloud infrastructure (UNICC). The MSME Financing Gateway has the potential to revolutionize the financing landscape for MSMEs in East Africa and beyond. By leveraging technology and fostering collaboration between various stakeholders, the platform can increase access to finance, improve financial literacy, and stimulate economic growth. By empowering MSMEs with the necessary tools and resources, the Gateway can contribute significantly to the region's economic development and social progress.
What does it take to be a host organization?
To host the MSME Financing Gateway you need to be an apex body representing MSMEs, financing providers or business development organization. Your organization should also be experienced in managing a digital platform and membership registrations and allocate dedicated personnel to administer the platform’s dashboard and content each day.
For more information or to implement the MSME Financing Gateway in your country please contact:
E-mail: