The last couple of months, the MMFM team has been working on preparing the next batch of loan proposals to be presented to the Investment Committee (IC) on October 24th in Dar es Salaam. Once again we have realized the tremendous amount of work involved to select, advice and assess the SMEs in the Fund’s target group in order to make them “investment ready”. On the other hand the work is also very critical for these SMEs and therefore rewarding and much appreciated by the entrepreneurs.
In August we started with a list of over 10 SMEs that met the Fund’s initial eligibility criteria. After the BDS (Business Development Services, performed by our colleagues of Match Maker Associates) and the assessments, the team is now finalizing loan proposals for 4 new SMEs to be presented to the IC.
The SMEs are active in maize processing (2), food processing and peanut butter production. All 4 SMEs are located within the geographical “corridors” we have defined (for the time being), in order to reduce logistical challenges and improve efficiency. The current “corridors” are:
- Lake Zone (mainly Mwanza and Bukoba)
- Arusha/Moshi
- Dar es Salaam/Morogoro
- Central (Dodoma, Singida, Kibaigwa).
During the last Advisory Committee (AC) meeting the Fund management proposed to down size the minimum loan threshold from the current € 50,000 to € 40,000 or even € 35,000. It was agreed to develop a pilot case. Therefore the MMFM team also included one SME (in the batch of 4) with a loan requirement of approximately € 35,000. During the coming AC meeting we will share our experiences and lessons learned.
