SME Finance Forum CEO Matthew Gamser moderates WBAF 2018 Panel: The G20 Agenda on Angel Investment and Early Stage Investment Markets panel, which discusses converting public finance to smart finance in cooperation with angel investors.

Promoting innovation and sustainable industrialisation requires easy access to finance and financial services that facilitate investment. The IFC estimates there are more than 360 million to 440 million formal and informal micro, medium, and small enterprises (MSMEs) worldwide. According to the World Bank Enterprise Surveys, many of these firms cite limited access to finance as one of their main constraints to growth. However, for the first time ever, proposals approved by G20 leaders last July in Hamburg included a reference to the importance of angel investment as an innovative source of finance to fuel innovation and the entrepreneurship ecosystem. 

This WBAF 2018 panel session builds on the G20 framework to try to ease access to finance globally. How can G20 countries include more public money to early stage investment markets? What would be the best pathway to connect know-how, mentorship, and the network of angel investors with G20 economies to support financial freedom for start-ups, scale-ups and high-growth businesses? How can we convert the G20’s public finance to smart finance in co-operation with angel investors?

Moderator
Matthew Gamser, Chief Executive Officer, SME Finance Forum - IFC, USA

Panelists
Yassin S. Al Suroor, Chairman of Saudi International Chamber of Commerce, ICC Executive
Board Member & WCF G20 Representative, Saudi Arabia
Candace Johnson, President, The European Trade Association for Business Angels (EBAN),
Belgium Bellini Qin, Director of External Alliance, Bolstra Group, China