Access to Finance under Small and Medium Enterprise Activity – Pakistan

The assignment supported USAID’s Small and Medium Enterprise Activity in improving access to formal finance for small and medium enterprises, with a focus on women-owned businesses. Dr Bilal Ahmad served as Small and Medium Enterprise Access to Finance Specialist. The work addressed both demand-side and supply-side barriers, including enterprise bankability, financial reporting, governance, business planning, and lender capacity. It also included recommendations for policy and regulatory improvements in coordination with the central bank, Securities and Exchange Commission, and tax authorities. The assignment reviewed USAID’s Development Credit Authority partial credit guarantee programme and recommended integrating the guarantee logic into the broader project strategy.