Brussels, 04/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - On 31 March, those in charge of the EU-funded SwitchMed training programme, which aims to promote eco-entrepreneurship in the south of the Mediterranean, announced that a series of meetings had been held with European financing institutions so as to assess their interest in alternative financing in North Africa. They note in particular that “financing does not reach small and medium-sized enterprises”.
The objective of the meetings that will follow over the course of April is thus “to assess the interest of financing institutions located in Europe for investing in eco-innovative enterprises or initiatives from green business people in the countries targeted by SwitchMed”. The objective is also to assess what hampers their activities, as SwitchMed notes that “access to financing is generally a considerable obstacle and that the benefits could be enormous for those who can finance small and medium-sized enterprises that apply social responsibility and respect the environment”.
Those responsible at SwitchMed also state that they have discovered that “the main obstacles often mentioned by financing actors are the difficulty of being involved more directly in north-African countries, and the costs linked to analysing the local context while taking account of all the points of view involved”. This is why the model generally encountered is the supply of resources for projects that have already been set up and investment funds that operate in the region. (Original version in French by Fathi B'Chir)