The Sanad Technical Assistance Facility, an affiliate of the Sanad Fund for MSME (Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) that supports lenders to MSMEs in the Middle East and North Africa, recently received a grant of EUR 200,000 (USD 240,000) from the Netherlands Development Finance Company, a government-backed institution also known by its Dutch acronym FMO. The funding is to be used to develop and expand “the impact and outreach of Sanad’s development finance mandate.”
FMO Capacity Development Manager Martin Steindl said, “The political landscape highlights the need for economic development and the creation of employment, especially among the youth…. [B]y targeting MSMEs in a fragile region of the world, the Sanad Fund and Technical Assistance Facility are directly supporting the poorest in the region, promoting financial inclusion, stimulating job creation and encouraging economic growth.”
FMO is disbursing the grant from the Massif investment vehicle, which is funded by the Dutch government and “focuses on small businesses and micro-entrepreneurs, women and youth entrepreneurs, as well as supporting innovations in inclusive business.” Massif has a net portfolio of EUR 430 million (USD 514 million) as of 2016.
Sanad was founded in 2011 and is domiciled in Luxembourg. It is an initiative of German development bank Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) and is funded by KfW, Germany’s GLS Bank and the EU as well as development finance institutions of the Austrian, German and Swiss governments. Sanad invests in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Territories, Tunisia and Yemen with an emphasis on Egypt and Tunisia. As of 2016, the fund has raised total investor commitments of USD 186 million. It is advised by Germany’s Finance in Motion, which manages assets valued at EUR 1.7 billion (USD 2 billion) as of 2017.
Founded in 1970, the vision of FMO is to help abolish extreme poverty, increase equality and support measures that reduce climate change. It reports total assets of EUR 8.5 billion (USD 9.5 billion) and profit before taxes of EUR 219 million (USD 245 million) for the year 2016.
By Aleks Marceau, Research Associate
Sources and additional information:
FMO press release:
https://www.fmo.nl/news-detail/f73ffa19-53a0-4a17-a56f-a7305e1737f6/fmo-grants-eur-200-000-to-support-the-sanad-technical-assistance-facility
FMO home page:
https://www.fmo.nl
MicroCapital on FMO in Georgia:
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-fmo-lending-12-5m-terbank-support-smes-georgia/
MicroCapital on Massif in the Netherlands:
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-netherlands-fmo-lending-7-5m-asa-pakistan-microloans-financial-education-50k-women/
SANAD home page:
https://www.sanad.lu
MicroCapital on SANAD in Lebanon:
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-sanad-fund-msme-lends-20m-lebanons-byblos-bank/
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