The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based multilateral development institution, recently announced it will extend a credit line equivalent to USD 11 million in Kazakhstani tenge to Kassa Nova Bank. Kassa Nova will allocate USD 6.6 million of the total to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) located outside of major metropolitan areas. The remaining USD 4.4 million will be lent to MSMEs led by women, as part of Financial Institutions Framework – Kazakhstan Women in Business (KazWiB), a project launched by US-based NGO Agricultural Cooperative Development International-Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance (ACDI-VOCA). The Damu Entrepreneurship Development Fund, which is controlled by Kazakhstan’s government, will guarantee the loans issued by Kassa Nova [1, 3, 4].
Founded in 2009, Kassa Nova Bank operates branches in nine cities across Kazakhstan. Kassa Nova’s financial data are available in Russian [8].
Damu, which is based in Almaty, was established in 1997. Its goal is to support small and medium-sized enterprises in Kazakhstan.
EBRD has invested approximately USD 6.5 billion in Kazakhstan since 1997. As of April 2017, it has USD 2.9 billion deployed in the country [5, 6].
Launched in 1991, EBRD has 65 shareholding countries as of 2017. The bank invested EUR 9.4 billion (USD 10.1 billion) in companies in 30 countries during 2016 [2].
By Matthew O’Neill, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources:
[1] Kassa Nova becomes new EBRD partner in supporting Kazakh MSMEs and female entrepreneurs:
http://www.ebrd.com/news/2017/kassa-nova-becomes-new-ebrd-partner-in-supporting-kazakh-msmes-and-female-entrepreneurs-.html
[2] MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Tunisia’s Union Internationale de Banques (UIB) Borrows $45m from EBRD for SMEs:
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-tunisias-union-internationale-de-banques-uib-borrows-45m-ebrd-smes/
[3] Kazakhstan Women in Business:
http://www.acdivoca.org/projects/kazakhstan-women-in-business/
[4] MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Kazakhstan Prime Minister Calls for Schemes to Improve the Functioning of MicroCredit Organizations in Rural Areas; Appoints Deputy Prime Minister to Coordinate the Efforts:
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-story-kazakhstan-prime-minister-calls-for-schemes-to-improve-the-functioning-of-microcredit-organizations-in-rural-areas-appoints-deputy-prime-minister-to-coordinate-the-efforts/
[5] EBRD projects in Kazakhstan:
http://www.ebrd.com/kazakhstan-data.html
[6] EBRD Kazakhstan overview:
http://www.ebrd.com/where-we-are/kazakhstan/overview.html
[7] Damu:
https://www.damu.kz/239
[8] Kassa Nova Financial Statements:
https://kassanova.kz/uploads/doc/file/bfbbbf5640ecff69a784e7bb70e6d4c4.PDF
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