The president of the SME Financing and Development Commission of the General Confederation of Enterprises of Côte d'Ivoire (Cgeci, Patronat Ivoirien), Patrick Assi launched the work of the 5th edition of the “Finance Is Engaged” forum, scheduled to be held on November 25, 2021. It is a platform of concrete and structural solutions aimed at providing SMEs with access to finance

Placed under the theme “Innovating in SME financing to accelerate post-Covid-19 recovery”, the 5th edition of the “Finance Engages” forum will be an opportunity for participants to reflect on improving the development of financing and the bancarization of the economic fabric at the level of SMEs. Patrick Assi noted that “this year, we will focus on financing businesses, especially SMEs, in this period of coming out of the Covid-19 crisis.” He indicates that it will also be an opportunity to finance financial institutions that have met and exceeded their SME financing commitments.

Since 2016, banks and financial institutions have joined the La Finance s'Engage platform. To encourage these donors, in 2017, the Ivorian Patronat created the Awards rewarding the best financial institutions for their support to SMEs. For the 2021 edition, La Finance s'plans to reward the three best financial institutions for their support to SMEs in the post-Covid-19 context and the best state institution for SME financing