A Cleantech Finance Workshop for MSMEs was conducted on Friday, 15 July 2022, in Khujand, Tajikistan as a part of the European Union, SWITCH-Asia program funded project ‘Resource Efficiency in Agri-food Production and Processing (REAP)’. MSMEs from the Sugd region involved in agri-processing and production as well as financial institutions were invited to the event. The objective of the workshop was to provide knowledge to MSMEs on financing clean or green technologies and to create a platform for the latter and financial institutions for networking
At the beginning of the event, Ms. Nasibakhon Aminova, Senior Project Manager from the National Association of Small and Medium Business of the Republic of Tajikistan (NAMSB RT), introduced the project as well as its geographical scope, objectives, support provided to MSMEs, mentioning the direct beneficiaries of the project and the stakeholders.
Furthermore, Ms. Nilufari Farrukhi, Junior project manager, NAMSB RT, described the calculated benefits derived from the implemented improvements in processing following technical advice provided by REAP technical consultants
An input was provided by Ms. Madina Karimova, Project Manager, NAMSB RT to illustrate the overall situation of clean technology financing at the macro and meso level in the country, the main international donors, funding programmes, as well as local banks acting as intermediaries between these funding programmes and local MSMEs. In addition, she highlighted the main challenges faced by MSMEs in accessing finance for clean or green technologies, based on the research results, the most common of which is high interest rates.
As one of the main objectives of the event was to provide knowledge to agri-processing and production MSMEs on the types of clean technology financing, Ms. Aikena Orolbaeva, Analyst, adelphi, gave the terms financial institutions use to designate clean technology financing schemes, the aspects for consideration in application for funding, criteria in scheme selection, types of SCP measures that could be financed through external fundraising. Subsequently, national financial institutions, such as MDO “FINCA”, MCO “IMON INTERNATIONAL”, Micro Credit and Deposit Organization “Humo” and “Arvand” Bank had an opportunity to present information on available financing schemes for investments for clean technologies with lower interest rates. A market place was thereafter organised allowing MSMEs to interact with financial institutions directly for obtaining further details, networking and to apply for funding.
All participants expressed the need for such events to create an opportunity of obtaining all relevant information on existing funding products, which include both loans and grants.
The event was an initial phase aimed at facilitating MSMEs' access to finance for SCP technology, an initiative that will be further implemented by the SCP project technical consultants.