Published: 16 January 2014

Zimbabwe is to host its second Small to Medium Enterprises banking & microfinance summit this year.

According to Deat Capital, the event aims to present different experiences of financial institutions to successfully scale up financing for SMEs, highlighting opportunities for further growth in this segment.

According to McKinsey & Company, the SME economy is set to grow to more than $350 billion by 2015, which is approximately $220 billion larger than in 2010.

SMEs play a vital role in economic development, by increasing competition, fostering innovation, and generating employment.

However, in Africa and Zimbabwe in particular, these enterprises' contribution to GDP is significantly lower than anywhere else in the world: while they contribute to up to 50 percent of GDP for high-income countries, the percentage in Africa remains below 10 percent.

In Zimbabwe the unbanked and uninsured market is estimated at more than $2 billion.

Survey data from various studies demonstrate that some banks, microfinance and insurance firms have begun to target SMEs as a profitable segment of the economy.

The conference will focus on expanding SME banking, microfinance and micro insurance services.

It will feature banking and insurance executives, financial sector authorities, expert panels of bankers, international development specialists.

The conference will focus on expanding SME banking, Microfinance and insurance services examining the opportunities and challenges to taking SME banking, microfinance and micro insurance to scale.
- bh24

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