SANAD Technical Assistance Facility launches COVID-19 Response Program to help partners tackle effects of crisis

2020-04-24

SANAD Technical Assistance Facility launches COVID-19 Response Program to help partners tackle effects of crisis

Luxembourg, April 24, 2020 – The SANAD Technical Assistance Facility (SANAD TAF) has launched a COVID-19 Crisis Response Program to help financial service providers in the Middle East and North Africa continue supporting micro, small, and medium enterprises in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. 

The program offers advisory services to investees of the SANAD Fund for MSME on a comprehensive set of business topics. These include risk and liquidity management, stakeholder communication, human resource management, and other areas where partners seek to refine their response to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 outbreak. By providing timely, quality consultancy on the challenges currently confronting financial institutions, the SANAD TAF aims to reinforce these institutions’ abilities to prepare for and overcome anticipated effects on their operations.

Ines Ebrecht, Chairperson of the SANAD Technical Assistance Facility, said: “Micro, small, and medium enterprises are particularly vulnerable right now to the economic effects of the COVID-19 crisis. By bolstering the local financial institutions that support them, we aim to uphold the critical infrastructures that provide entrepreneurs and homeowners with the essential resources they need.” 

About SANAD 

The SANAD Fund for MSME finances micro, small, and medium enterprises and low-income households in the Middle East and North Africa via qualified local lenders. SANAD thereby fosters economic development and job creation – including youth employment – agriculture, affordable housing, and innovations in finance and financial technologies. SANAD strives to meet these goals by providing debt and equity financing to its local partners. 

The SANAD Technical Assistance Facility (SANAD TAF) multiplies the fund’s impact and outreach through capacity-building with partner institutions, developing financial infrastructures according to the principles of responsible finance and conducting much required research and development. The SANAD Entrepreneurship Academy, an initiative of the SANAD TAF, encompasses a range of programs to support business owners throughout SANAD’s target region. By working together with local organizations that drive incubation and acceleration projects, the Entrepreneurship Academy provides entrepreneurs with guidance, resources, mentoring, networking opportunities, the chance to receive financial backing, and other means necessary to turn good ideas into successful enterprises.

An impact investment fund advised by Finance in Motion, SANAD’s investors include the KfW Development Bank, which initiated the fund; the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ); the European Union; Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO); OeEB, the Development Bank of Austria; Germany’s GLS Bank and GLS Treuhand; the Dutch development bank FMO; and Calvert Impact Capital. 

For more information on the SANAD Fund for MSME, please visit: www.sanad.lu  
For more information on Finance in Motion, please visit: www.finance-in-motion.com  

Media contact – SANAD
Nikki Eggers
Senior Officer, Marketing & Communications
Phone: +49 (0)69 271 035-470 
Email: press@sanad.lu