The SME Finance Forum is hosting a webinar to share insights from the new report Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs 2020: An OECD Scoreboard.

Members and non-members are welcome to participate!

In today’s global economy, SMEs and entrepreneurs are at the heart of the search for inclusive growth in countries around the world. Ensuring that small firms can access external finance in the appropriate forms and volumes is a prerequisite for their development and growth. In times of crisis, such as the one the world is currently facing with the COVID-19 pandemic, financing becomes critical for SMEs to survive in the face of immediate and profound effects.

In the years following the global financial crisis in 2008, SME access to finance improved. Driven by economic recovery, interest rates reached historic lows, bank lending picked up again, and credit conditions for SMEs and entrepreneurs improved considerably. Today, SMEs are turning to alternative financing instruments, such as asset-based and online finance, like never before. This signals that they have taken a step forward in financial diversification.

In this webinar, we will discuss the latest trends in SME financing and share key insights from the new OECD report, Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs 2020: An OECD Scoreboard. We will also talk about how governments are stepping in to foster SME financial resilience in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the biggest global crisis in more than a decade.

About the report: This OECD flagship publication, now in its ninth edition, tracks developments for 47 countries around the world. The OECD will present the report, followed by a discussion among SME finance experts. 

With the special participation of

Angel Gurría has been the Secretary-General of the OECD since 2006. Under his leadership, the Organisation has established itself as a pillar of the global economic governance architecture including its active engagement with the G20, G7, APEC and other international fora. Mr. Gurría has advanced the OECD’s impact and relevance in several policy area, focusing on the promotion of better lives through inclusive growth and new approaches to economic challenges. He has also made the OECD more inclusive through new memberships, strengthening the link with key emerging economies and fostering its global outreach. Mr. Gurría came to the OECD following a distinguished career in public service in his native Mexico, including positions as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Finance and Public Credit in the 1990s.
 

About the Speakers

Miriam Koreen is the Senior Counsellor on SMEs at the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions, and Cities of the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development (OECD). From 2011 to 2018, she was Deputy Director and Head of the SME and Entrepreneurship Division. Ms. Koreen has worked at the OECD since 2000 when she joined the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology, and Industry conducting analysis on entrepreneurship and SME policies. From 2002-2007, she served as Counsellor to the Trade Directorate. From 2007-2009, Ms. Koreen worked as an Advisor in the Office of the Secretary-General. In 2009, Ms. Koreen was named the Senior Project Manager for the OECD Innovation Strategy. She also served as Chair of the OECD Procurement Board from 2011 to 2015. Ms. Koreen holds a M.Sc. in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a BA in English and Modern Languages from Emory University.

Lucia Cusmano is Acting Head of the SME and Entrepreneurship Division at the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Regions and Cities (CFE). Ms Cusmano has a PhD in Economics from the University of Pavia (Italy) and has completed a Master of Science in Economics at Warwick University (UK). Ms Cusmano has worked at the OECD since 2010, serving as Senior Economist and Executive Secretary for the OECD Working Party on SMEs and Entrepreneurship (WPSMEE). She has authored OECD works on SME financing, SME innovation, SME eco-innovation and green entrepreneurship, and benchmarking of SME and entrepreneurship policy. She has also published extensively in international journals on SMEs, entrepreneurship, innovation, structural change, institutions and economic development in advanced and developing regions.

Miriam Bruhn is a Senior Economist in the Finance and Private Sector Development Team of the Development Research Group at the World Bank. She joined the Bank as a Young Economist in September 2007. Her research interests include the effect of regulatory reform on entrepreneurial activity, the informal sector, micro and small enterprises, financial literacy, and the relationship between institutions and economic development. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT and a B.A. in Economics from Yale University.

For more information, please contact: Jessica Alfaro