Herat A2F Business to Bank Roundtable
Date: March 16-17, 2014
ABA with the support from USAID/FAIDA project held a two-day A2F Business to Bank Roundtable at Markopolo Hotel in Herat province during March 16-17, 2014. The roundtable targeted enterprises functioning in Herat by facilitating them in business planning and Islamic finance trainings in order to help them in business financing and development. The roundtable provided a good opportunity for the participating businesses and financial institutions to exchange viewpoints in identifying challenges and opportunities in improving their productivity, access to markets and finance. Invitees of the roundtable included public and private sector representatives who are involved in production, trade and financing activities.
Main objectives of the event was to improve access to finance for the enterprises in Herat province through facilitation of targeted discussions and meetings between relevant stakeholders, to link enterprises with the financial institutions and to develop enterprises' technical skills requirement. In the event 8 financial institutions namely Agricultural Development Fund, Bakhtar Bank, Bank Al-Falah, Ghazanfar Bank, FINCA, The First Microfinance Bank of Afghanistan (FMFB-A), Muthahid introduced their products and services to the participating enterprises.
In total, 79 participants attended the event on the first day while 61 participants appeared on the second day. The event was attended by government departments, USAID representatives, ABA member banks, MFIs, and enterprises from Herat provinces. Total number of 2 potential concepts notes were developed from the event and almost 9 businesses have had initial meetings with banks for financing.
