Countries
Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vinzent and the Grenadines
Local project partner
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German local partner
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Donor
BMZ
Duration
01. April 2016 – 31. March 2018
The Eastern Caribbean Currency Union consists of a total of eight small island states that are open and vulnerable to the economic cycles of neighbouring developed economies, particularly the USA. The total population of these countries is around 600,000 with a GDP of approximately USD 9,300 per capita in 2014.
One of the biggest challenges in the region is access to financial services for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Only 15-20 per cent of financing is processed via banks. The remainder is financed in particular through the company's own capital or supplier credits, meaning that the scope for financing is limited. The interest rates are very high and the banks also require very high collateralisation of 130-150 percent of the loan amount on average.
The project objective was therefore to create needs-based, efficient and sustainable access to demand-oriented financial services for MSMEs and at the same time to improve the economic knowledge of MSMEs in the Eastern Caribbean Monetary Union (supply and demand side).
Selected organisations from the financial sector should be strengthened to increase their broad impact, offer increasingly demand-oriented products and improve the service culture for MSMEs. In addition, the basic entrepreneurial education of MSMEs (risks of the informal credit culture, knowledge of financial markets, etc.) should be improved.
Task
- Selection of at least one local partner organisation
- Analysing the needs of MSMEs in the area of financial services
- Conception and development of products / services or customisation
- Analysing internal structures
- Development of optimisation proposals
- Design and development of training measures incl. use of simulation
- Selection and training of local trainers