Tag Archives | Small Businesses

Impact of COVID-19 on SMEs in Iraq

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have been heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the closures and reduced working hours recommended to curb the spread of the virus. To better understand the impact of COVID-19 on SMEs, IOM Iraq conducted a survey with 456 enterprises active in different sectors in urban areas of Iraq […]

Iraqi Banks Increase Funding for SMEs

By John Lee. The Iraqi private banks association has announced an increase of half-a-trillion Iraqi dinars in funding to enhance the role of the private sector and the developmentof small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and to increase job opportunities. According to the report from Shafaaq, this brings the funding available to 1.5 trillion Iraqi dinars […]

Supporting Entrepreneurship in Iraq – The Challenge of Translating Mandates to Action

By T. Keyzom Ngodup, co-founder and Executive Director at Ideas sYnergy, an Iraq based private sector development consulting company. Most development agendas for Iraq putatively support entrepreneurship and the need to support private sector development through its focus on the growing number of unemployed youth in the country. UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) recently […]

Transforming NGO Microfinance Institutions to Non Bank Financial Institutions

By T. Keyzom Ngodup, co-founder and Executive Director at Ideas sYnergy, an Iraq based private sector development consulting company. For a long time now, the discussion continues within different circles and corridors in Iraq, on whether microfinance institutions (MFIs) can operate as NGOs and continue providing micro-loans to low-income entrepreneurs who lack access to finance […]

Unlikely MSME Financiers Provide Islamic Microfinance for the Poor

By T. Keyzom Ngodup, co-founder and Executive Director at Ideas sYnergy, an Iraq based private sector development consulting company. Six NGO-microfinance institutions (MFIs) provide Islamic micro-financing Al-Murabaha to over 7,000 micro-enterprises, 14% of them women-owned small businesses across Anbar, Kirkuk, Ninewa, and Tikrit. Al-Takadum in Al-Anbar pioneered micro-financing based on Islamic principles in 2007 and […]