{"id":20321,"date":"2025-09-22T08:26:42","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T08:26:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.afis.africa\/sb_session\/side-event-2\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T13:39:55","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T12:39:55","slug":"side-event-2","status":"publish","type":"sb_session","link":"https:\/\/www.afis.africa\/en\/sb_session\/side-event-2\/","title":{"rendered":"ALLIANCE FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN AFRICA &#8211; SIDE EVENT | Financing Africa\u2019s SME Value Chains: Linking Enterprises, Markets, and Finance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of Africa\u2019s economies, driving jobs, trade, and innovation. Yet many remain excluded from formal value chains and face persistent barriers to affordable finance, limiting their growth and competitiveness. Strengthening the links between enterprises, financiers, and markets is essential to unlocking Africa\u2019s productive potential and building a more resilient, integrated economy.<\/p>\n<p>Through the Alliance for Entrepreneurship in Africa, its members are bridging these gaps\u2014mobilizing capital, data, and partnerships to help SMEs thrive. This session will share progress from the Alliance, present insights on SME financing needs, and explore how blended finance, supply chain solutions, and digital innovation can catalyze investment, integration, and inclusive growth across the continent.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key Points:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Demand-Driven Solutions: <\/strong>What does recent evidence reveal about the financial and non-financial needs of SMEs across Africa\u2019s value chains\u2014and how can it guide targeted interventions to better match supply with demand?<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bridging the financing gap: <\/strong>How can blended finance and innovative liquidity solutions help SMEs secure working capital and integrate into regional and global value chains?<\/li>\n<li><strong>Alliance platform and partnerships:<\/strong> How can the Alliance\u2019s resources and collaboration among DFIs, corporates, and governments mobilize finance, de-risk SME lending, align incentives, and drive greater impact across value chains?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","evenement-salon":[132],"class_list":["post-20321","sb_session","type-sb_session","status-publish","hentry","evenement-salon-132"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>ALLIANCE FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN AFRICA - SIDE EVENT | Financing Africa\u2019s SME Value Chains: Linking Enterprises, Markets, and Finance - The African Financial Summit Platform<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.afis.africa\/en\/sb_session\/side-event-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ALLIANCE FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN AFRICA - SIDE EVENT | Financing Africa\u2019s SME Value Chains: Linking Enterprises, Markets, and Finance - The African Financial Summit Platform\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of Africa\u2019s economies, driving jobs, trade, and innovation. 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