Lessons from Asia Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Monitor 2021: Accelerating Dynamics of MSMEs post COVID-19 in South Asia 2021 | Asian Development Bank (ADB) | 30 November 2021 | Online Event

This webinar comprises five sessions: (i) trends and challenges in MSME development in South Asia: lessons from the Asia SME Monitor 2021, which summarizes key findings from the ASM 2021 Volume I; (ii) national efforts to scale up MSMEs and challenges against the pandemic, which discusses selected governments’ efforts to develop the MSME sector with key challenges during the COVID-19 crisis; (iii) enhancing MSME access to finance – financing models post COVID-19, which discusses central banks’ efforts to enhance MSME access to finance and their financial inclusion strategies, addressing digital financial services solutions and new financing modalities amid the pandemic; (iv) how Asia’s small businesses survived one year into the COVID-19 pandemic, which summarizes key findings from the ASM 2021 Volume II; and (v) panel discussion – policy actions fighting against the pandemic, which discusses how governments coordinate ongoing MSME policies and what policy approaches and actions would be required post COVID-19.

Objectives:
This seminar aims to (i) demonstrate key findings from the Asia Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Monitor 2021 Volume I: Country and Regional Reviews and Volume II: How Asia’s Small Businesses Survived One Year into the COVID-19 Pandemic, (ii) discuss national efforts to develop the MSME sector and enhance access to finance, and (iii) explore policy actions to support MSMEs post-COVID-19.

Target participants:
The seminar expects the participation from government authorities responsible for MSME development and access to finance, central banks, financial authorities, financial institutions serving MSMEs, business associations and networks, academia/researchers/ experts in the field of MSME development and finance, bilateral and multilateral organizations, and ADB staff responsible for MSME projects.