Donor funding for SME-related projects highest in Ethiopia
Since 2013, funding for SME-related projects has been highest in Ethiopia, with Kenya close behind. This is a notable change because donor funding for SMEs in Ethiopia from 2007 to 2012 was US $29 million, less than the funding for SMEs in 2013 alone, which was US $30 million. This was largely driven by the launch of the Women Entrepreneurship Development Project by the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA). IDA contributed over US $15 million to the project in 2013.
As a proportion of total donor funding, SME-related funding in East Africa never reached more than 1 percent.
In the past decade, total SME-related donor funding for Burundi is less than US $6 million.
- East Africa
- Ethiopia
- Kenya
- Rwanda
- Tanzania
- Uganda
US $Millions (2015 Constant Dollars)
Source: OECD CRS , ANDE Analysis
Top 5 Donors supporting SME-related projects in East Africa
The top funders in East Africa include a handful of organizations, as opposed to one development finance institution. Global Affairs Canada contributed the most to SME-related projects in the region, with a total of US $22.8 million disbursed in 2016.
The United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) is the second largest funder of SME-related activities, and nearly all the funding went to projects in Kenya.
Of the top five supporters of SME-related projects in East Africa, only the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA) gave significantly to projects in Rwanda. In 2016, SIDA provided nearly US $5 million to support the National Employment Program, which is aimed at increasing the skills base of the Rwandan labor force.
Source: OECD CRS, ANDE Analysis