Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and Pacific (ADFIAP)

&

Rural Development Bank

&

InWEnt Capacity Building International

&

Planters Development Bank

have the honour to invite you to the

SME Finance Symposium

 30 May to 03 June 2005

 Rural Development Bank

9-13, St.7, Sangkat Chaktomuk

Phnom Penh

Cambodia

Description

 Rural Development Bank together with the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and Pacific (ADFIAP), InWEnt (Capacity Building International Germany), and Planters Development Bank (Philippines) is offering the "SME Finance" symposium in Phnom Penh 30 May to 03 June 2005 for Cambodian financial institutions, government agencies and non-governmental organizations involved in the development of small and medium enterprises (SME).

 The 5-day event aims to provide the participating financial institutions, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations involved in the development and growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with a forum to acquire new knowledge, exchange ideas and collaborate closer on how to best finance this important sector of the Cambodian economy. Furthermore, the idea is to provide another forum in a series of events with focus on SME finance and development that have already been conducted in Cambodia.

 Background

 The overall objective of the program aims to enhance the capacity of financial institutions in Cambodia to provide financial support for SMEs. Through this, financial institutions will further contribute to their countries’ economic growth since SMEs are increasingly becoming an “engine of growth” for the country as well as important entrepreneurs and employers in the Cambodian economy in recent years.

 Vital entrepreneurial development of Cambodian SMEs is most often hindered due to their restricted access to finance or formal sources of credit. Adequate and sustainable financial services are missing since the majority of formal sources of credit such as commercial banks restrain from providing financial services to SME clients. The latter are often considered as risky, costly and difficult to handle. The resulting lack of financial facilities for SMEs causes accumulated needs with regard to financial sources and business development.

 Nevertheless, there are financial institutions such as Planters Development Bank in the Philippines that have shown that financing SME is a profitable business operation. It is in this context that this symposium is organized in order to strengthen the financial institutions in Cambodia by introducing best practice techniques in SME lending, with the aim of improving SME’s access to finance.

Objectives

The symposium is designed to give the participants the knowledge and practical skills to deal with the following guiding questions:

           · How to design and implement an effective program on fostering closer coordination between financial services for SMEs

             and the respective client’s needs?

           · How to design and implement effective loan supervision and monitoring techniques?

           · How to appraise and evaluate loan applications?

           · How to assess risk mitigations products and their respective limitations?

InWEnt – Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung, gemeinnützige GmbH (Capacity Building International, Germany) is an organization for international human resources development, advanced training and dialogue. It was established through a merger of Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft e.V. and the German Foundation for International Development and can draw on decades of experience in international cooperation. Its practice-oriented programs are directed at experts, managers and decision-makers from business and industry, politics, public administration and civil society from all over the world. Its Development Policy Forum organizes a high-ranking, informal policy dialogue on current issues of development policy.

Our Goal                                                                                                                                                                                      -           Promotion of sustainable social, economic and ecological development all over the world                                                          -           Training of junior managers and executives promoting their ability to act in an international and intercultural environment           -           Support of a global structural policy through advanced training and dialogue                                                                            -           Contribution to international peace policy

                                
Our Programs                                                                                                                                                                            -           Sectoral and regional advanced training projects of several years                                                                                          -           Practice-oriented training in enterprises and institutions of several weeks or months                                                                 -           Seminars, workshops, international conferences and expert dialogue                                                                                       -           High-ranking, international policy dialogue                                                                                                                             -           Individual internships around the world

Our main commissioning bodies and partners                                                                                                                    -           Federal Government, above all the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Federal Foreign Office and   the Ministry of Education and Research                                                                                                                                             -           The Länder governments                                                                                                                                                      -           European Union, multilateral institutions, e.g., World Bank, International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organization, United Nations, Foundations and enterprises

InWEnt gGmbH - Facts and Fiqures 

Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP)

ADFIAP is the focal point of all development banks and other financial institutions engaged in the financing of development in the region.  It was established on October 1, 1976 with 31 original charter signatories under the auspices of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which has to date remained as a Special Member of the Association. 

          ADFIAP was born out of a keen desire of development bankers in the region to bond themselves together and share the task of improving the financing of development through mutual cooperation and  assistance.  

ADFIAP is the largest and most prestigious organization of its kind in Asia and the Pacific with presently 54 members in 26 countries.  It is a founding member of the World Federation of Development Financing Institutions (WFDFI) that comprises similar associations in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. 

ADFIAP is a non-governmental organization (NGO) in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations (UN), with official access to briefings, seminars, consultations, conferences, research materials, publications and offices of the UN bodies. The permanent Secretariat of ADFIAP is based in Manila, Philippines. 

Rural Development Bank (RDB)

The Rural Development Bank (RDB) was created by the Royal Government of Cambodia on January 1, 1998. The RDB is a public enterprise and an autonomous  organization authorised to process all banking operations and loan service to support the micro finance services.  

The RDB’s main objective is to provide micro-financing and credit services in support of agriculture development and general economic activities, in order to reduce poverty and raise the standard of living of the Cambodia people. 

RDB refinances credit funds and services to licensed financial institutions, Commercial Banks, Specialised Banks, Micro-Finance Institutions, Associations, development Communities and Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) that take part in the rural development in Cambodia. 

The Rural Development Bank’s activities are aimed at implementing the micro-finance project and strengthening the training services for rural credit. For this purpose, it works in cooperation with national and international financial institutions, Associations in Cambodia and overseas, such as the National Bank of Cambodia (NCB), CANADIA, ACLEDA, EMT, Hattha Kaksekar, Seilanithih, CEB, AFA, SDR, CBIRD, the Agence Francaise de Development (AFD), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), Non Government Organisations (NGOs), Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP), Association of Banks in Cambodia (ABC) and the Asia-Pacific Rural and Agriculture Credit Association (APRACA).

Plantersbank - The Bank for SMEs

Planters Development Bank (Plantersbank) is a privately-owned and managed bank in the Philippines with a complete range of commercial banking products and services especially geared towards promoting the interest of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

For more than 40 years, Plantersbank has devoted its energies and resources to the service of the Filipino entrepreneur and will continue to champion the cause of SMEs by bringing to them the resources needed in this period of accelerated change and global competition.

Plantersbank is:

SME FINANCE FOR CAMBODIA N/A " SME FINANCE FOR CAMBODIA" Hosted by Rural Development Bank Phnom Penh, Cambodia May 30- June 03, 2005