Country
Jemen
Local project partner
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German project partner
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Donor
Deutschen Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ)
Duration
2007 - 2010
Since mid-2007, the German Sparkassenstiftung für Internationale Kooperation has been working with the Small Enterprise Development Fund (SEDF) in Yemen. The financial sector in Yemen had been underdeveloped to date and was not living up to its role as a catalyst for economic growth and employment. In particular, there was a lack of access to capital for business start-ups. In addition, there were often social and cultural barriers that limited women's business ambitions and made it difficult for them to access bank loans. The project, financed by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH, aimed at institutionally strengthening the SEDF so that it would provide more loans to the country's small and medium-sized enterprises. Deutsche Sparkassenstiftung advised SEDF in the following areas:
- Training of loan officers
- Operations of the finance department and internal audit
- Expansion of the branch network
- Management training
- Development and implementation of a management information system
- For the most part, Deutsche Sparkassenstiftung cooperated with experts from the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe, some of whom spoke Arabic.
In April 2008, 15 SEDF representatives took part in a training visit to Germany, which primarily served to deepen their knowledge of lending business. Stadtsparkasse Bad Honnef explained the processes involved in lending to SMEs, while Sparkasse KölnBonn facilitated a visit to a typical SME in Germany. Discussions with the German Savings Banks Academy on the training and further education system of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe rounded off the Yemenis' visit to Germany. GTZ has pledged financial resources for the continuation of cooperation.
