SME banking
IFC is helping banks deliver targeted training to their SME customers on broad business development themes such as marketing, financial management, and quality management. The customers can be segmented by size, sector or location (e.g. bank branches). In addition, banks can partner with their corporate clients to jointly support their distributors and/or suppliers with both advisory and financial services.
In some cases, these SME development programs with financial institutions are accompanied by an IFC investment or lending facility and target a specific sector, such as health, education, or agribusiness. While the banks make lending decisions, IFC manages the delivery of training programs to improve the performance and credit worthiness of participating firms. An example is the Africa Schools Program.
