The goal is to foster female and sustainable entrepreneurship
Facilitate the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly run by women, and support green investments to facilitate the transition to renewable energy sources and energy efficiency adjustments. These are the main goals of the $35 million loan granted by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) to the Vietnam Prosperity Joint-Stock Commercial Bank, the first ever financing carried out by the Italian Group in the Asian country. The operation is part of a broader project led by the International Finance Corporation – member of the World Bank Group – an institution under the World Bank-which was joined by the development finance institution DEG, owned by Germany's national development bank KfW, the Dutch FMO, Norway's Norfund and Sweden's Swedfund, for a total amount of about $300 million.
The initiative aims to develop small and medium enterprise in a country that is of particular interest to the Italian business community and one of the fastest growing economies in Asia. Vietnam is Italy’s tenth biggest export target market in the entire Asia and Pacific region, as was also flagged up during the most recent meeting of the CDP Business Matching programme, a platform designed to facilitate the development of trade relations between Italian and international businesses in which over 200 organisations took part.
The loan will mainly be used to develop the Vietnamese bank’s credit portfolio in favour of local SMEs, which represent 97% of the country’s businesses and employ over 60% of the population. Additional goals are investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency and support for businesses run by women.