Contenu disponible uniquement en anglais.

In the last months, the MEDSt@rts team has developed a study on the Mediterranean microfinance industry with the aim of creating a database with all the partners involved in the project: SFIRS Spa in Italy, Chamber of Commerce of Achaia in Greece, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Sfax in Tunisia, LEADERS in Palestine and Chamber of Commerce and Industry of South Lebanon in Lebanon. 

The partnership was able to map a total of 128 organizations currently operating in microfinance. The largest percentage of them (43%) is located in Palestine, more than a third (36%) in Tunisia, 22% in Lebanon, and the remaining part is almost equally distributed among the two European partner countries: Italy and Greece. The 38% of the considered organizations are financial institutions providing microfinancing and/or loans; 24% are private companies or venture capitals; 20% are business incubators; 16% are governmental organizations. Finally, some organizations are non-profit.

The study focuses on business stage, sectors, financial instruments and structure implemented by the different tools. The analysis has been developed from existing data obtained from the relevant statistical departments, public administrations, banks and financial institutions and or relevant published studies. Partners studied actions and tools developed in the last years by more than 110 entities working on the microfinance issues (private companies, governmental organisations, incubator, microfinance institutions, NGOs and no profit organisations).

This study is also a fundamental preparatory action to support the design of the Mediterranean network of microfinance and the new instruments that will be launched into the market by the next project activities. This short report presents the main results achievd through the study.

With 7 partner and an associated partner in 5 countries, Med microfinance support system for start-ups, project funded by ENI CBC Med 2014-2020, wants to help young people with promising business ideas overcome the traditional credit constraints to start or scale up their enterprise.