Access to capital, or lack thereof, is the top concern of Europe’s small businesses. As one owner told EmergingMarkets.org, “You can have all the vision, all the business plans in the world, but if you don’t have money to go with it and support from financial institutions it’s not going to work. You have the car but you don’t have the gas.”

Europe’s small business sector is an unrealized “engine of growth,” according to Sir Suma Chakrabarti, president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). “Small businesses matter for economic development,” he said. “There is a strong entrepreneurial spirit across our region but much remains to be done to foster that spirit,” he said. The EBRD is working toward a solution with the recently-launched Small Business Impact Fund. The fund will promote small business financing through financial institutions, co-financing and policy. Backed by 64 governments, including the United States, the EBRD’s plan provides more than $1.7 billion in financial support to businesses each year.

Europe’s SMEs are still recovering from the long-lasting effects of the 2008 global financial crisis. Boosting small businesses’ access to funding is a goal for multiple European bodies, including the European Commission. Things are getting better. The European Central Bank’s annual report showed falling loan rates and fewer differences across national borders. The commission sees supporting cross-border financing as a key component of recovery, but defining a set of rules that can address the different political and economic landscapes throughout Europe is difficult. To that end, built into the Small Business Impact Fund, which is part of the larger Small Business Initiative, is the ability for each country to adapt activities to their particular needs.