KUALA LUMPUR, 3 December – Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia Berhad (CGC) and the Business Development Fund (BDF) of Rwanda today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on the development of credit guarantee framework for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Rwanda.
With the signing of this MOU, CGC shall offer assistance and guidance to BDF to develop, design and review the credit guarantee framework to support the development of SMEs in Rwanda. CGC will also be providing technical assistance in the development of the credit guarantee schemes, policy guidelines and other operational matters.
CGC’s President / Chief Executive Officer, Mohd Zamree Mohd Ishak said the collaboration between CGC and BDF will enable CGC to share its 43 years of experience and expertise in SME financing and overall SME development in the country.
According to Zamree, this collaboration would also enable CGC to share and transfer its knowledge and experience to BDF through on-the-job trainings, research, publications and study visits.
CGC regularly host study visits for the development financial institutions from Asia, the Middle East and Africa. In 2015, CGC hosted study visits from the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) that had 41 delegates from 33 countries and also delegations from Bangladesh, Egypt, Japan and Korea.
“Many developing countries that do not have credit guarantee institutions are observing CGC as a model and success story and want to emulate it in introducing the guarantee mechanism in their respective countries,” said Zamree. “This is not just an acknowledgement of CGC’s expertise but also of Malaysia’s capabilities in SME development.”
CGC has been in the forefront of SME development not only in Malaysia but also at international level assisting countries such as Papua New Guinea, Mongolia, Timor-Leste and other countries in the Middle East and Africa. In 2013, CGC signed MOUs with Papua New Guinea and Mongolia to help establish credit guarantee institutions to further enhance SME financing in their respective countries. In May 2015, CGC had signed MOU with Banco Central de Timor-Leste (BCTL) for a similar objective.
“Rwanda and Malaysia share a long and warm friendship. Today, we are taking another step to further strengthen the relations. The MOU marks a milestone in formalising a partnership not only between BDF and CGC, but also our countries”, said Chief Executive Officer of BDF Rwanda, Innocent Bulindi.
“The Government of Rwanda has recently enhanced BDF’s mandate to support SMEs. In this regard, BDF is undergoing a transformation to strengthen its capacities especially in developing the right skill set and expertise to deliver its new mandate,” added Innocent.
“It is indeed an honour for BDF to have the opportunity to learn from CGC’s experiences, strategies and successes which have been accumulated over time in such a high calibre institution”, said Innocent.
The MOU was signed by CGC’s President / Chief Executive Officer, Mohd Zamree Mohd Ishak and the Chief Executive Officer of BDF of Rwanda, Innocent Bulindi. The signing ceremony which was witnessed by CGC’s Chairman, Dato’ Agil Natt was held at The Saujana Hotel Kuala Lumpur.
The signing ceremony was preceded by a two-day knowledge sharing session on risk, finance, and asset management principles which were highly appreciated by the BDF team.
Since inception in 1972, CGC has availed more than 430,000 financing to SMEs valued over RM56 billion benefitting about 315,000 SMEs.