GroFin’s innovative SME development model of combining access to finance, business support and market-linkages has received further recognition through an Honourable Mention at this year’s Global SME Finance Awards.

The GroFin Small and Growing Businesses Fund (“SGB Fund”) recently received this accolade in the “Product Innovation of the Year” category. The Global SME Finance Awards recognize outstanding achievements of financial institutions and fintech companies, in delivering exceptional products and services to their SME clients and are endorsed by the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI).

Guido Boysen, CEO, says GroFin is honoured by this recognition which affirms the merit of its approach to developing small and medium-sized businesses.

“GroFin has demonstrated how the typically very high fail rate among SMEs can be mitigated and through a model that is scalable. This means that GroFin’s approach can be replicated to make an even greater contribution to the development of emerging economies.”

Finance provided through the SGB Fund, coupled with business support interventions, have ensured that the SGB Fund has a viability rate of 86%, compared to a failure rate of 70- 90% for SMEs in emerging economies.

Guido Boysen says the SGB Fund is also regarded as innovative in its design to not only achieve socio-economic impact objectives, but also to generate sustainable returns for its investors.

“The ability to generate financial returns attracts investors and greatly strengthens the sustainability of the fund. This is crucial to any developmental project or fund which hopes to make a lasting impact.”

Earlier this year GroFin won the ICAEW and A4S Finance for the Future Awards, in the Building Sustainable Financial Products category, as well as the 2018 Islamic Economy Award in the ‘SME Development’ category.

About GroFin

GroFin is a pioneering private development financial institution specialising in financing and supporting small and growing businesses (SGBs) across Africa and the Middle East. We combine medium term loan capital and specialised business support to grow SGBs in emerging markets. By successfully combining medium term loans and specialised business support delivered through our local offices, we have invested in over 700 SMEs and sustained over 88,150 jobs across a wide spectrum of business activities within the 15 countries in Africa and Middle East that we operate in. GroFin has its headquarters located in Mauritius.

About the GroFin Small and Growing Businesses Fund (“SGB Fund”)

Established in 2014 and based on GroFin’s then decade-long experience in supporting entrepreneurs across emerging economies in Africa, the GroFin Small and Growing Businesses Fund (“SGB Fund”) focuses on SGBs that are typically neglected by traditional financiers and even conventional SME funds – the SME “missing middle” segment.

The Fund’s unique model integrates access to finance, business development skills and market linkages to ensure job creation at scale and facilitates the provision of vital services to low income households. It focuses on high impact sectors including education, healthcare, agribusiness, manufacturing and key services and further envelop women and youth as beneficiaries of its model.