A TND 200 million funding line for subscription in the fund of investment, restructuring and recovery of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in difficulty was launched by the the State’s financial arm, the Deposit and Consignment Fund (French: CDC).
Financed up to TND 120 million by the Arab Fund for Eonomic and Social Development (AFESD), this funding line consists of a specific mechanism of assistance to SMEs which is proposed as part of the government’s economy reboot programme, CDC Director General CDC Néjia Gharbi Thursday told participants in a workshop on “Private Equity: State of Affairs and New Programmes of the Deposit and Consignment Fund.”
The remaining amount, some TND 80 million, will be mobilised by the Deposit and Consignment Fund which will contribute to the tune of 40% in twenty funds meant for this mission.
Gharbi said the purpose is to provide SMEs with liquidity and financial resources to secure their financial stability while allowing them to develop their activities.
The fund
ing line with help address challenges in relation to the underfunding and over-indebtedness of small and medium-sized enterprises, especially those with no more acces to bank financing, said CDC official Karim Bououni.
The aim is to secure the capital financing needs of SMEs with a potential for development, provide needed means to upgrade their financial situation and mobilise funding and guarantee the financial stability and development of the economic fabric of businesses, he added.
//New funds to build the resilience of SMEs
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The consignement fund recently launched the fund “Impact” which is geared towards giving backing to stakeholders in regions in a bid to foster regional development, contribute to politicakl stability, create clusters and reinforce
regional expertise units.
The TND 100 million fund comes as a CDC reponse to Tunisian enterprises operating in regions. Its mission consists of helping address development imbalances and structural issues and
secure a growth trajectory bh stimulating investment, said Koubeyel Elabed, a consignment fund official.
The fund is currently working on fundraising and the first operations of Impact will be carried out through a financing under discussion with the World Bank.
Impact operations will be focused on enterprises that reconcile financial, social and environmental aspects, the purpose being to foster value creation and the generation of decent, sustainable and higher added value jobs by means of betting on centres of expertise.
As a supplement to this fund, the CDC put in place a fund dubbed “Relais.” With a target size of TND 100 million, this mechanism, in fundraising fund, targets small and medium-sized enterprises which demonstrated their resilience and a strong potential for recovery and growth.
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The consignment fund supported SMEs in the period spanning 2012/2022 by means of subscribing to investlent funds, the Director Genral said.
Owing to subscriptions totalling TND 446 million by late 2022 (21 lo
cal and 5 international), the CDC contributed to creating fund companies and investment funds, giving impetus to the private equity market in Tunisia, she further said.
A total of 188 projects were created through investments of the fund, including 80 in regional development areas. These investments generated and helped maintain 21,481 jobs, including 6 ,752 for women and 5, 716 for young people.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse