The Microfinance Centre regional microfinance resource center and network

“Digital Finance Tech Handbook” is a short and practical handbook for microfinance managers in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) that aims to build an understanding of the main technological trends and solutions that support future growth. Read the publication: TECH HANDBOOK

Every day in Europe, 2.8 million social economy enterprises employing some 19.1 million people are dedicated to solving societal challenges whilst running a sustainable business. All in all, this accounts for some 6.3% of the total paid workforce in Europe. Unlike traditional businesses, social enterprises create revenues and profits that are directly re-invested into up-skilling, innovative jobs and training opportunities. ...

The paper presents the concept of financial health for small businesses and describes the MFC’s approach to constructing a comprehensive measure of financial health. First, the paper argues for the need to develop a measure of financial health for a small business that goes beyond traditional balance sheet and income statement-based financial indicators. Next, the paper consolidates emerging understanding of ...

This MFC’s research paper considers the (mis)match between the financing needs of European MSMEs and the perception of availability of external financing. Publisher: Microfinance Centre Authors: Justyna Pytkowska, Piotr Koryński Year: 2018 Download “Between Needs and Availability: The External Financing Gap Indicator” Our question is: how do changes in the perceived need for external financing (and its availability) line up with the patterns ...

EIF Working Paper 2018/47 – EIF SME Access to Finance Index This Working Paper outlines the methodology underlying the new EIF SME Access to Finance (ESAF) Index, which aims oat monitoring developments in SMEs’ access to financial resources in the EU. The index, which is newly developed and will be periodically updated, fills a gap since such an approach did ...

The key aim of these MFC research paper “Financing Gap and SME Employment Growth: Beyond Access to Finance” was to investigate the relation between the perceived changes in financing gap and employment growth by SMEs in the EU. The paper builds on and extends the analysis of SAFE survey data, in order to focus on the question of employment creation which ...