Washington D.C., October 17th, 2022 – The Small and Medium Business Development Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (KOBİA) joins the SME Finance Forum as the newest member of our global membership network. Our members are SME financing experts from 80+ countries who share the common goal of expanding access to finance to small businesses worldwide through knowledge exchange and innovation.
“When we started in 2012, we were in an exploratory phase for the first few years. Since 2016, we’ve been implementing our mission to build a global membership to support better SME financing, and since then, we’ve established a network with over 250 active member institutions, which operate in over 190 countries sharing the common purpose of helping under-served enterprises.
We are delighted to welcome The Small and Medium Business Development Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (KOBİA) to further grow our mission.” said Matthew Gamser, CEO of the SME Finance Forum.
The Small and Medium Business Development Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (KOBİA) is a public-private legal entity, that is authorized to support the development of small and medium businesses (SMBs) in Azerbaijan. The KOBİA’s role is to increase the contribution and share of MSMBs in the national economy, boost their competitiveness, present them with broader opportunities to access financial resources, improve mechanisms to provide them with institutional support, coordinate the activities implemented by public and private entities in this area, establish a favorable business environment to ensure the development of entrepreneurship in the country’s regions and attract domestic and foreign investments to this area of activity.
"By joining the SME Finance Forum, we are ready to learn more and share our experience of delivering SMEs access to finance”, said Orkhan Mammadov, Chairman of the Small and Medium Business Development Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (KOBİA).
About SME Finance Forum
The SME Finance Forum was established by the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) in 2012 as a knowledge center for data, research, and best practice in promoting SME finance. As an implementing partner for the GPFI, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) was tasked with managing the initiative. The Forum operates a global membership network of +240 members that brings together financial institutions, technology companies, and development finance institutions to share knowledge, spur innovation, and promote the growth of SMEs.
To see all SME Finance Forum members, please visit: https://www.smefinanceforum.org/members/member-list
About The SMB Development Agency of Azerbaijan
The Small and Medium Business Development Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (KOBİA) was established in 2017 to support MSMEs development in Azerbaijan, strengthen their role in the national economy, increase their competitiveness and contribution to the national development indicators.
