On the 5th Anniversary of our network, we thank our founding members for their invaluable support

 

SMEs play a pivotal role in building economies and supporting job creation and innovation – yet most struggle to get the financing they require to grow. This is why the G20 countries, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, decided to create the SME Finance Forum. 

 

“When we started in 2012, we talked to our G20 partners in its Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion, and to finance industry institutions around the world about supporting SMEs. It was clear at that time that the crisis had made longstanding, fundamental problems dealing with this group even worse.  At the same time, it also was clear that innovations in finance and in business, in general, were opening new doors.”  said Matthew Gamser, CEO of the SME Finance Forum.  

 

Working with its stakeholders, the SME Finance Forum set out in 2016 to build a global membership body to support better SME financing.The network was announced at the conclusion of the Turkish G20 presidency by Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, the UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser on Financial Inclusion. Since that time, over 200 banks, fintech companies, non-bank financial institutions, development banks, and others have joined the network, operating in over 190 countries worldwide.

 

In 2016 it was not clear that we could grow at all, much less to our present size. We thought that it would be important to provide a place, both virtual and physical, where financiers could learn from each other, link to new business opportunities, and lead the industry voice in policy dialogue. Some 33 visionary institutions decided to join in during that first year – we are forever grateful to these Founding Members, who have been an integral pillar of the SME Finance Forum. 

 

We thank you for being an inherent part of the SME financing community. As we approach the end of the fifth year of our network, we would like to acknowledge those who have been with us along the entire journey, without whom none of this would have been possible.