Access to Finance

Finding and securing funding is a common obstacle that an entrepreneur faces during the entrepreneurial process. Hence, EDI works with financial services providers to foster access to inclusive and innovative financial products that cater the unique needs of MSMEs especially those owned by youths, women, and other marginalized groups through de-risking these entrepreneurs.

Focus Areas

• Facilitating Forums: Connecting entrepreneurs with financial institutions to foster dialogue, build relationships, and identify tailored financing solutions.
• Establishing a National Entrepreneurship Fund: Championing the creation and deployment of a national fund dedicated to supporting innovative entrepreneurs.
• Integrating Selection Tools: Collaborating with banks to integrate EDI's entrepreneur selection tools into their business appraisal processes, improving their ability to identify and assess promising ventures.
• Attracting Investors: Raising the profile of the Ethiopian entrepreneurial ecosystem to attract venture capitalists, angel investors, and other sources of funding.
• Capacitating Self-Help Institutions: Strengthening the capacity of savings and credit cooperatives (SACCOs) to expand financial inclusion for disadvantaged groups.

Key achievements

Access to Market Linkage

EDI is committed to fostering enterprise growth and enhancing competitiveness by linking MSMEs to new opportunities across local, regional, and international markets. Forging strategic partnerships and identifying high-potential markets are at the heart of this intervention.

Focus Areas

• Building Connections: Assisting micro and small enterprises in establishing partnerships with larger companies for business opportunities and mentorship.
• Marketing Support: Enabling enterprises to promote their products and services in domestic, regional, and international markets.
• Digital Access: Providing enterprises with access to digital marketing platforms, offering training sessions, and organizing trade fairs and exhibitions to showcase their offerings.
• Marketplaces Creation: Annually hosting diverse bazaars and trade fairs, allowing clients to display their products and services to a broad audience, generate income, connect with potential buyers, network with industry experts, and share valuable market insights.

Key Achievements

• Facilitated access to the USA market for 10 women-owned MSMEs through a partnership with the Trade Facilitation Office (TFO) Canada.
• Delivered digital marketing training to 6,000 MSMEs, fostered local market connections via B2B and B2C opportunities for 2,000 participants using a digital marketing platform, and organized bazaars and festivals in Hawassa and Addis Ababa, featuring 30 and 9 MSMEs respectively.
• Linked over 1,000 MSMEs with consumers and businesses through holiday bazaars to enhance local market access.