Credit APPRAISAL & Risk Management for SMEs

HELD ON 3 ^rd – 7 ^th APRIL 2017  AT SIBANE HOTEL IN SWAZILAND

• SADC DFRC Secretariat Representatives present here today
• Our main facilitator for the workshop, a special welcome to Swaziland.
• Senior DFI Executives Present here Today.
• Distinguished visiting and local participants.
• A very Good Morning to you all.

1. It’s indeed an honour and a privilege for me to have been invited to be part of the official opening ceremony for this very important training course  which is at the center of the  daily activities Development Finance Institutions that finance SMEs.

2. Let me pay a special tribute to the SADC DFRC Secretariat for choosing the Kingdom of Swaziland to be the host country for this training course and at this point allow me to also extend a warm welcome to all our visiting participants from outside our borders namely Zambia; Zimbabwe; Tanzania; Malawi and Namibia.

3. The local DFIs namely FINCORP, SWAZIBANK and SIDC must be commended for taking up the membership of this very important regional network of SADC Development Finance Institutions in order to enhance learning and sharing of best practices in development finance and economic development in general. A fourth Development Finance Institution Namely; National Industrial Development Corporation of Swaziland (NIDCS) recently set up in Swaziland has also taken interest in the activities of the SADC DFI Network and we look forward to working with them in this very important and powerful DFI Network.

4. Many people may not be aware that the SADC DFI Network is actually a direct subsidiary institution of SADC Economic Block established under the SADC Finance and Investment Protocol (FIP) hence the network is ultimately accountable to the SADC Council of Ministers through the Integrated Committee of Ministers which at the end feeds to the Heads of State. 

5. The SADC DFI Network currently has 37 DFI member institutions from all the fourteen (14) SADC Countries.

6. Ladies & Gentleman.