Blog
Spotlight on Innovation: SME Finance Leaders 2024
Featuring Global SME Finance Awards Platinum Winners
Gain Insights from Three Awardees and Get Ready to Apply for the 2025 Awards
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The Global SME Finance Awards
Since its launch in 2018, the Awards recognize and celebrate the outstanding achievements of financial service providers in delivering exceptional products and services to scale SME finance in their respective markets. It provides an opportunity for institutions to highlight and share good practices, impact, knowledge, and be recognized amongst the global peer group of world leaders in SME finance and services.
LEARN MORE
https://www.smefinanceforum.org/awards-2024
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Kinara Capital is a socially responsible fintech driving last-mile financial inclusion of small business entrepreneurs in India. They offer fast, flexible, and collateral-free loans to small business entrepreneurs.
AWARD WINNER in 2 categories:
SME FINANCIER OF THE YEAR - GLOBAL – PLATINUM
SME FINANCIER OF THE YEAR - ASIA – SILVER
LEARN MORE about Kinara
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Financial Performance and Reach:
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USD 400 million portfolio outstanding.
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USD 90 million revenue in FY24.
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USD 900 million cumulative disbursement to date.
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133 branches across 6 states.
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Over 132,456 loans disbursed with an average ticket size of ~USD 10,000.
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Social Impact:
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Significant job creation, with 36% of new jobs going to women and 11% to first-time job seekers.
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Increase in entrepreneur income, enabling better access to health, education, and household services.
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Digital and Data-Driven Processes:
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End-to-end digital platform for operational efficiency.
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Use of machine learning algorithms for data-driven decision-making.
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Automated processes for loan disbursement and collections.
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Customer Focus:
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Targets sole proprietorships and partnerships in urban, peri-urban, and semi-urban areas.
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Many customers lack formal education, property ownership, and access to traditional financial services.
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Product Offerings:
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Various business loans including long-term working capital, machinery purchase, short-term working capital, bill discounting, and invoice financing.
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Market Demand and Challenges:
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MSMEs employ over 110 million people and contribute significantly to India's GDP and manufacturing output.
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There is a large unmet demand for credit in the MSME sector, particularly for micro enterprises.
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Challenges include lack of collateral, low formalization of businesses, and reliance on informal lending.
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Kinara's Advantage:
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Fast turnaround time for loan disbursement.
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Risk-based pricing and unbiased decision-making.
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Omni-channel distribution and robust sourcing through branch networks and digital channels.
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Sicredi is the first Cooperative Financial Institution in Brazil serving SMEs. They developed a program called "Donas do Negócio" program aimed at supporting women entrepreneurs.
AWARD WINNER in 4 different categories:
BEST FINANCIER FOR WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS - LAC – PLATINUM
BEST FINANCIER FOR WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS - LAC – GOLD
BEST FINANCIER FOR WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS - GLOBAL – PLATINUM
SME FINANCIER OF THE YEAR – LAC - GOLD
LEARN MORE about Sicredi
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Program Impact: Since its launch in June 2022, the program has trained 3,173 women and involved 1,200 women participants, generating USD 400K in sales through events and achieving 160,000 website accesses.
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Financial Performance: Sicredi has seen significant growth in various financial metrics, including a 189% increase in total credit volume, a 233% increase in deposits, and a 618% increase in insurance volume.
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Women as Clients: Women are highlighted as an attractive segment for financial institutions due to their higher tendency to save, positive risk behavior, and lower non-performing loan (NPL) rates.
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Challenges for Women Entrepreneurs: Despite their contributions, women face greater financial and non-financial barriers compared to men, including unmet credit demand and lower earnings.
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Strategic Components: The program offers exclusive managers, access to informative content, networking events, training workshops, and inspirational stories to support women entrepreneurs.
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Economic Impact: Studies show that credit unions like Sicredi positively impact local economies, increasing GDP per capita, wages, formal employment, and the number of commercial establishments.
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Sicredi's Reach: Sicredi operates in 229 Brazilian cities, often as the only financial institution, and has a significant presence in smaller and rural areas where traditional banks are less likely to operate.
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Sustainable Funding: Sicredi has secured various loans and bonds aimed at supporting SMEs, women-led businesses, and sustainable energy projects.
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Finbots AI is a Singapore-based fintech company specializing in AI credit scoring.
AWARD WINNER in 2 categories
PRODUCT INNOVATION OF THE YEAR – GLOBAL - PLATINUM
PRODUCT INNOVATION OF THE YEAR – AFRICA - PLATINUM
LEARN MORE about Finbots AI
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CreditX Solution:
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Conducts Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) on financial institution data.
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Utilizes supply-chain data to develop credit models within three days.
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Automates the entire credit risk value chain, including instant loan approvals.
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Business Impact:
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Achieves high performance across multiple metrics, including an 80+ GINI score and high accuracy in credit models.
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Processes 50 times more applications daily with processing times under 0.5 seconds per application.
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Reduces loss rates by 5-10 points and supports significant growth, from 1,000 to over 40,000 applications in one year.
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Client Challenges and Solutions:
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Addresses issues such as recurring defaults, manual processing limitations, and lack of reliable credit data.
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Provides solutions for scaling lending portfolios, particularly for MSMEs and agri-finance sectors, by integrating alternate data sources and automating credit assessments.
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Geographical and Sectoral Reach:
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Serves clients across 14 countries, including Singapore, Philippines, Australia, India, UAE, Kenya, and Nigeria.
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Clients span various financial services sectors, including banks, NBFIs, fintechs, digital banks, and micro-lenders.
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Technological Advantages:
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Offers a no-code, API-based platform for real-time decisioning and model deployment.
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Utilizes advanced AI and ML techniques for data ingestion, transformation, feature engineering, and model validation.
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Ensures high accuracy and efficiency in credit decisioning, reducing total cost of ownership by approximately 80%.
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Customer Success Stories:
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Highlights successful implementations in unsecured lending, agri-finance, and embedded finance for MSMEs.
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Demonstrates significant improvements in approval rates and reduction in loss rates for clients.
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Future Directions:
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Plans to incorporate wider and real-time data sources for agri-finance, including agronomic data, remote-sensing data, and market data.