Finance
Banking in the MENA region is characterized by conservative lending practices. Credit risk is managed by minimizing exposure and imposing high collateral requirements making credit available only to large, highly capitalized businesses. Lending also tends to be short-term, ignoring the long-term capital requirements of borrowers. These practices hurt both SMEs and lenders.
MEII stimulates SME lending by providing local partner banks with partial loan guarantees and technical assistance to assess the viability of their SME clients and structure loans to meet borrower working capital and longer-term needs. To date, MEII designed and manages five loan guarantee facilities (LGFs) totaling $330 million in Palestine and Tunisia. Our LGFs are not intended to be permanent fixtures in the local economy – they are temporary (often 10-12 year) interventions intended to address local market bottlenecks and stimulate lending to SMEs. MEII’s strategy is to develop the SME underwriting experience of partner bank loan officers, and allow SMEs to develop a good track record and credit history so that banks and SMEs eventually interact on a bilateral basis and without the need for a third-party intermediary like MEII.
In SME loan guarantee facilities
In SME loan applications
In approved loans
That were considered too "risky" by banks
In SME loan guarantee facilities
In SME loan applications
In approved loans
That were considered too "risky" by banks
- Transform the SME culture to encourage financial transparency and disclosure.
- Provide SMEs with the tools and knowledge to understand their financial performance.
- Develop sustainable book keeping practices.
- Help SMEs that lack colateral to develop cash flow based business plans that present their bankability.
Knowledge and Education
Many SMEs in the region lack accurate and adequate financial statements. The reasons for poor financial transparency and inadequate disclosure among SMEs vary, but thorough analysis indicates that the problem is primarily attributed to lack of capacity and knowledge regarding how to organize and present information about their business. Most SMEs (especially small companies) have never been obliged to maintain accounting records, which in larger businesses are typically required by banks, regulators, and shareholders. Viable SME owners are keenly aware of the financial dynamics of their business; they know who owes payment, how much is owed to vendors, and whether or not the business is profitable. However, most SME owners suffer from a general inability to effectively communicate information in financial statements that are compliant with accounting standards. As a result, most SMEs are ill-equipped and insufficiently experienced to develop and manage relationships with external financing parties
MEII has developed Tamweeli Assist which is aimed at improving the accounting and financial literacy of SMEs. MEII believes that improved financial literacy leads to enhancing financial transparency and governance, which can facilitate better access to finance for SMEs and allow them to grow and hire more people. By developing the financial literacy and financial disclosure, SMEs can transparently present their bankability and cash flows to financial intermediaries, which in turn can better assess risk and underwrite loans.
MEII has also developed Tamweeli Academy which offers educational training tailored to the needs of businesses . The training courses are digital and / or face-to-face in a variety of themes and touching various fields such as accounting, finance and business management.
Trained by business advisors
Accounting software programs installed
Interns trained
Of the interns were employed post-internship
Trained by business advisors
Accounting software programs installed
Interns trained
Of the interns were employed post-internship
Technology and Innovation
SMEs in the MENA region have limited access to capital, yet many of these businesses have the potential for growth which will generate significant economic benefits through increased productivity, employment, and economic stability. Banks in the region report that the poor quality of loan applications (lack of financial statements, business plans, etc.) is a serious impediment to due diligence. However, many SMEs lack the capacity and knowledge to organize and present their financial information. This weakness perpetuates a negative perception in the credit market resulting in prohibitively high collateral requirements and effectively restricting most small businesses from access to adequate credit.
In 2015, MEII launched the Tamweeli matchmaking platform in Palestine. Tamweeli is an innovative online platform that harnesses the security, speed, and simplicity of the internet to streamline the financing process for both financial intermediaries and SMEs by connecting businesses with financing requests to financial intermediaries, mainly banks and MFIs.
Financial Intermediaries are registered
Registered SMEs
Active loan applications
In financing (86 SMEs)
Financial Intermediaries are registered
Registered SMEs
Active loan applications
In financing (86 SMEs)
MEII is seeking to leverage its accumulated experience and is committed to raising the Sharaka Fund in order to create jobs, reach a greater number of entrepreneurs and businesses, and fundamentally transform SME access to finance in the MENA region. The principal rationale for the Fund is to address a market failure to provide adequate and appropriate financing to feed growth in MENA’s SME sectors and introduce new financial products that better suit the needs of the “Missing Middle” SMEs. Risk capital has two fundamental characteristics: (i) it does not require 100% collateral coverage (and certainly not 200%); and (ii) it is risk sharing, meaning that the investor shares in both the downward and upward performance of the investee. All VC and PE investing is risk capital, but not all risk capital need be VC or PE in the conventional sense of these terms. These SMEs a financial instrument that is a hybrid of bank lending and venture capital, one that takes more risk than a bank but less risk than a venture capital fund.
Addressing a Market Gap
According to the IFC, only 20% of MENA SMEs have a bank loan or line of credit, largely due to excessive collateral requirements. While MEII has successfully expanded SME lending in the countries in which it operates, the organization has also learned that improved bank lending is only part of the answer to address the substantial financing gap of the “Missing Middle” SMEs – those businesses that are too large for microfinance or family investment, but too small to attract traditional financing (banks) and risk capital (private equity). In our experience, however, when these “Missing Middle” businesses – SMEs that require capital ranging from $100,000 to $3 million – are given access to well-structured capital, they tend to grow, hire new employees, and stimulate additional economic activity in their communities
Addressing a Market Gap
According to the IFC, only 20% of MENA SMEs have a bank loan or line of credit, largely due to excessive collateral requirements. While MEII has successfully expanded SME lending in the countries in which it operates, the organization has also learned that improved bank lending is only part of the answer to address the substantial financing gap of the “Missing Middle” SMEs – those businesses that are too large for microfinance or family investment, but too small to attract traditional financing (banks) and risk capital (private equity). In our experience, however, when these “Missing Middle” businesses – SMEs that require capital ranging from $100,000 to $3 million – are given access to well-structured capital, they tend to grow, hire new employees, and stimulate additional economic activity in their communities
MEII is seeking to leverage its accumulated experience and is committed to raising the Sharaka Fund in order to create jobs, reach a greater number of entrepreneurs and businesses, and fundamentally transform SME access to finance in the MENA region. The principal rationale for the Fund is to address a market failure to provide adequate and appropriate financing to feed growth in MENA’s SME sectors and introduce new financial products that better suit the needs of the “Missing Middle” SMEs. Risk capital has two fundamental characteristics: (i) it does not require 100% collateral coverage (and certainly not 200%); and (ii) it is risk sharing, meaning that the investor shares in both the downward and upward performance of the investee. All VC and PE investing is risk capital, but not all risk capital need be VC or PE in the conventional sense of these terms. These SMEs a financial instrument that is a hybrid of bank lending and venture capital, one that takes more risk than a bank but less risk than a venture capital fund.
Addressing a Market Gap
According to the IFC, only 20% of MENA SMEs have a bank loan or line of credit, largely due to excessive collateral requirements. While MEII has successfully expanded SME lending in the countries in which it operates, the organization has also learned that improved bank lending is only part of the answer to address the substantial financing gap of the “Missing Middle” SMEs – those businesses that are too large for microfinance or family investment, but too small to attract traditional financing (banks) and risk capital (private equity). In our experience, however, when these “Missing Middle” businesses – SMEs that require capital ranging from $100,000 to $3 million – are given access to well-structured capital, they tend to grow, hire new employees, and stimulate additional economic activity in their communities
MEII is seeking to leverage its accumulated experience and is committed to raising the Sharaka Fund in order to create jobs, reach a greater number of entrepreneurs and businesses, and fundamentally transform SME access to finance in the MENA region. The principal rationale for the Fund is to address a market failure to provide adequate and appropriate financing to feed growth in MENA’s SME sectors and introduce new financial products that better suit the needs of the “Missing Middle” SMEs. Risk capital has two fundamental characteristics: (i) it does not require 100% collateral coverage (and certainly not 200%); and (ii) it is risk sharing, meaning that the investor shares in both the downward and upward performance of the investee. All VC and PE investing is risk capital, but not all risk capital need be VC or PE in the conventional sense of these terms. These SMEs a financial instrument that is a hybrid of bank lending and venture capital, one that takes more risk than a bank but less risk than a venture capital fund.
They will target entrepreneurs and SMEs: