SMEs have a significant economic impact globally, but many lack the financial knowledge to advance their businesses. Financial literacy is a key component of enabling SMEs to gain the knowledge to grow their businesses. The SFE program will introduce two new courses specifically for SMEs. Key central and development banking leaders will participate in this session to share their experiences in uplifting SMEs and the impact it had in their countries.
This session will delve into the importance of financial literacy for SMEs in order to enable them to grow their companies and have a greater economic impact.

Amidst the rapidly evolving digital landscape, addressing the financial needs of unbanked and underbanked populations is paramount for fostering widespread financial inclusion. Digitisation plays a pivotal role in rendering financial services more accessible, affordable, and convenient for all. However, the importance of deliberately designing digital financial services with inclusivity at their core cannot be overstated.

This session brings together regulatory leaders from the global south to shed light on the imperative to reimagine and reformulate traditional approaches to financial inclusion. The dialogue will explore innovative strategies and new paradigms necessary to collectively achieve comprehensive and inclusive financial services in an increasingly digital world.

While the globalisation of supply chains offers myriad opportunities for MSMEs to scale and access new markets, the call for them to disclose, verify and track their sustainability performances may prove to be a hindrance in accessing the growing pools of green supply chains, business and financing opportunities.

Project Savannah was developed to help these MSMEs overcome the challenges they face in measuring and reporting their environmental, social and governance (ESG) performances. It seeks to do so through capacity building, simplified reporting and more accessible data.

In this session, participants will exchange views on how to strengthen resourcing and incentivisation for MSMEs to undertake such reporting, and how governments, international organisations and private sector players can coordinate support. Additionally, they will discuss how Project Savannah can be scaled more rapidly and efficiently, and to which priority markets, in order for its benefits to be promulgated to areas of greatest need.

This roundtable seeks to establish the foundations for a Project Savannah implementation playbook that outlines deployment strategies, best practices, and actionable steps for current and future participants.