In October this year, African Guarantee Fund (AGF) released $3m (K2.25b), in order to boost small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malawi. AGF chief executive officer Felix Bikpo said the organisation did that to decrease SMEs funding gap.
The next step, for the sake of accountability, would be to set up a system by which these SMEs can access and store their funds. The Finance Minister, Goodall Gondwe, announced that the government will soon open a bank for SMEs.
The International Fund for agricultural development, on the other hand, launched a project aimed at helping young graduates venture into businesses. Ifad’s Country Manager, Ambrosio Barros, was present at the announcement of the SMEs bank. He was supportive of the upcoming development, considering that it was a lot of money to be allocated to a lot of people, with a need of an organized system of allocating it.