On September 29, in Kiev, on the territory of the UNIT.City innovation park, the Access2Finance conference was held. The main mission of the event is to open up new opportunities for the development and search for alternative sources of financing for small and medium-sized businesses, according to SEEDS.

The event brought together representatives of the Ukrainian government and international organizations, business owners, financiers, bankers, economic experts in order to find solutions that transform the institutional environment and accelerate economic growth. In particular, the conference participants discussed such topics: attracting investments for small and medium-sized businesses, digitalization of SMEs, current agricultural financing programs and the development of new financing programs (5-7-9%).

The organizer of the conference is the Ukrainian Association of Fintech and Innovative Companies. It is a non-profit organization that develops the Fintech ecosystem and raises the level of financial inclusion in Ukraine. The association was founded in June 2018 and has 60 members.

“Ukraine is taking important steps to increase access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises. Recent legislative reforms open doors to innovation and growth. It now depends on the private sector to seize these opportunities,” said Robert Bond, USAID's Financial Sector Transformation Project Manager, in his opening remarks.

“There are plenty of opportunities and money for SMEs for the market, and digital and Fintech solutions are the best way to use them,” commented Rostislav Duke, Chairman of the Board of the Ukrainian Association of Fintech and Innovative Companies (UAFIC).

During four panel discussions, alternative sources of attracting investment were discussed. The participants analyzed whether there are initiatives from the state for SMEs and what new legislative initiatives / unresolved issues exist in the market, identified new growth drivers - factoring, leasing and online lending, and focused on the land market and the agricultural sector, discussing current agricultural financing programs. They also focused on considering the issue of changes in legislation and discussed funding programs for 5-7-9%.

The speakers brought up the most pressing issues for consideration, one of them is the land market and putting things in order in land relations in Ukraine. During the panel discussion "Access to financing of the agro-industrial complex", they discussed current financing programs, crop receipts, problems and new opportunities for attracting financing.

“Today, there is sufficient liquidity in the banking system - funds that could be directed to lending to farmers. Affordable bank financing is a prerequisite for the intensive development of the agricultural sector," said Bagrat Akhidzhanov, Director of the Financial and Economic Department of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine.

More than 200 business owners, representatives of government and business associations and more than 25 speakers at the conference worked out the concept of interaction of all stakeholders to improve the welfare of the country.

Access2Finance has become a platform for creating an ecosystem in which business, government and society agree on partnerships, share opportunities, interact to strengthen everyone.

The event was supported by the USAID Financial Sector Transformation Project, which aims to transform Ukraine's financial sector into a transparent, fair and diversified system that supports businesses of all sizes and serves the needs of citizens.

USAID's Financial Sector Transformation Project supports financial sector reform in Ukraine and provides technical assistance in the following areas: consumer lending; reforming the legislative and regulatory framework; expanding access to finance in the non-banking financial sector; expanding the use of electronic finance; as well as assistance in attracting the population to financial markets and protecting the rights of consumers of financial services. Additional information about the USAID Financial Sector Transformation Project and its activities can be found at http://www.fst-ua.info  and https://www.facebook.com/FSTProject.