Gapi recently presented, in the city of Beira, a financing instrument focused on the resilience of Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) affected by cyclones and pandemics. 

This is a Resilience Fund, the initial value of which is 4.5 million US dollars and is co-financed by USAID - the United States Agency for International Development.

Gapi coincided the launch of this initiative with the celebration of its 33rd anniversary.

The governor of Sofala Province, Lourenço Bulha, presided over the launch ceremony, praising the joint Gapi-USAID initiative to provide Mozambique with a sustainable financing vehicle to provide aggregate credit with technical assistance to MSMEs, with a focus on recovering economic activity, businesses and jobs in the regions affected by cyclones and the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We were particularly pleased to note the importance of launching this fund, as its effective implementation could result in the strengthening of the business fabric, with significant gains in the creation of new jobs.

Our expectation is that this type of initiative will have an impact on improving the living conditions of our communities, which are continually trying to recover from natural disasters and the Covid-19 pandemic," said Lourenço Bulha.

For Mary Hobbs, the USAID representative, "this fund is important because it will benefit almost 3,000 companies, with a focus on those in the provinces of Sofala, Cabo Delgado and Nampula". Hobbs also highlighted the revolving nature of the fund, which will allow it to reach more people.

As these are the businesses that face considerable barriers in accessing formal financial services, the Fund will prioritize small-scale businesses in the agricultural value chain and food systems, especially those owned or run by women and young people.

Rafael Uaiene, Gapi's CEO, said that "this is an event of capital importance for Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and, perhaps, for the national financial system, so we invite you to join us in this increasingly pressing challenge of providing the country with instruments and mechanisms that help MSMEs to be more resilient to the natural disasters that are increasingly plaguing our region and our country, in particular"..

At the launch ceremony, Gapi's technical team, led by its CEO, Adolfo Muholove, presented the characteristics of this innovative financial instrument and provided further clarification on the process of its implementation, involving duly selected partnerships, in order to cover rural areas and the inclusion of women and youth in access to the resources that will be made available.

The MSME Resilience Fund mainly contains a credit component with subsidized interest rates.

The design of this financial instrument was largely inspired by the experience developed by Gapi, both in the aftermath of the 2000 floods in southern Mozambique and in the intervention it carried out in the weeks following cyclones Idai and Kenneth, with financial support from DANIDA.

Some of the beneficiaries of Gapi's post-Idai intervention attended this event, along with more than a hundred other guests.

At the end, both the governor of Sofala, Lourenço Bulha, and the USAID representative, Mary Hobbs, expressed their confidence in Gapi's capacity and competence to ensure the success and impact of this initiative.

After the ceremony, several businesspeople welcomed the fact that these resources were being managed by an institution with three decades of experience and a good professional and ethical reputation recognized in national and international forums.