New entities like Kabbage and Funding Circle in developed markets, and Ant Financial, WeBank, eFactor Network, Fawry Microfinance, Funding Societies – Modalku or JUMO in emerging markets are data-driven newcomers. They get basic permissions from entrepreneurs, and then pull the data they need immediately from digital infrastructure, making key lending decisions within a few seconds. “I’m very optimistic about what we can do, because of the increasing digitalization of both business and finance. These innovations are opening up opportunities for doing things in financing SMEs, that we just couldn’t do before,” says Gamser. “Education, education, education” SDG 8 indicators and the other top challenges experienced by SMEs are also closely linked. SMEs are lacking access to skills and capabilities to manage and grow their businesses. This should not come as a surprise: The proportion of the world’s youth not engaged in either education, employment or training increased from 21.8 percent in 2015- 2019 to 23.3 percent in 2020 due to the pandemic. This represents an increase of almost 20 million young people aged 15 to 24. Meanwhile, both technical and vocational education and on-the-job training suffered massive disruptions, forcing many young people to quit their studies, according to the UN. One of the key targets of SDG 4 – Quality Education is to increase the number of young people and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship. The goal’s broader aim is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities, all of which have been hugely set back by the pandemic. Lengthy school closures during
EL SALVADOR AND SMES In El Salvador, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent over 95 percent of all businesses and significantly contribute to job creation and economic development. In 2021, the OPEC Fund provided a US$25 million loan to Banco Promerica for on-lending to local SMEs and women-owned businesses to promote the economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.
with a crisis in learning: too many children lacked the
The number of young people not engaged in education, employment or training increased by 20 million globally between 2015 and 2020 Less than 60 percent of children in low- and middle-income countries met the minimum required proficiency in reading by the end of lower- secondary school
fundamentals in reading and math, according to the UN. Accordingly, the proportion of children meeting the minimum required proficiency in reading at the end of lower-secondary school was between 70 and 90 percent in most high-income countries in pre-pandemic times. That proportion fell below 60 percent in almost all low- and middle-income countries. The slow overall
progress and the harsh interruption in basic education are making it more difficult to have a skilled workforce in the long run.
the pandemic came at a time when the world was already struggling
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PHOTO: Yaw Niel/Shutterstock.com
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