Shell Foundation are proud of the diverse ways in which our partners have stepped up during this crisis. In its recent newsletter, SF’s long-standing partner GroFin outlined a number of initiatives they have initiated to help their SME clients during Covid-19.

These initiatives include:

• Developed a Covid-19 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) framework drawing on international best practice. GroFin’s investment team assisted and advised their clients to implement the framework to help minimise contagion risk to their employees and customers.
• Developed a Business Resilience Model which focused on helping their clients build short-term resilience to survive until their respective countries open for business again.
• Hosted a series of webinars for clients and entrepreneurs in countries including Nigeria, Iraq, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda. GroFin’s investment teams discussed topics ranging from financing, managing cash flows, and repositioning small business post-Covid-19.
• Ensured that all their clients were aware of valuable opportunities to access funding and support from other organisations through regular email updates to try to help their business impacted by Covid-19

As well as these interventions, GroFin has published guidelines and resources available on their website to all SMEs working in emerging markets.