Société Générale Benin (SGB), backed by EU financing, selected HORUS for technical support aimed at strengthening its capacity to reach “mesofinance” clients and to offer loans under managed costs and risks. To this end, HORUS carried out:

• A qualitative and quantitative demand assessment (survey)
• An assessment of SGB’s loan products and of its organization, procedures and methods
• Recommendations on the appropriate target client segments, marketing approach, product range, design and conditions, processes, and rules for loan approval in compliance with group prudential rules
• The design of cash flow-based loan appraisal tools
• Staff training and coaching on MSME lending techniques.

This program, carried out with up to nine partner banks, has significantly contributed to opening up the Romanian banking sector to MSMEs, with more than 27,000 loans granted, of which 60% to microenterprises. HORUS services consisted mainly of:

• Attracting new partner banks, including due diligence missions
• Providing technical advisory services to the partner banks in terms of credit as well as in related fields such as marketing, staff incentive systems, risk management and work organization
• Designing training programs, selecting and training loan officers to be assigned to the different partner banks. HORUS trained more than 150 loan officers in the field
• Initiating, designing and implementing product innovations and marketing methods for specific market segments, such as private service providers, tourism and farmers

HORUS assisted the bank in defining its SME credit policy, setting up an adequate organization, and capacities, methods, tools and products to serve this segment. A particular feature of this assignment was the setting up of an organizational unit entirely dedicated to the SME market, cash flow-based lending methods and the progressive broadening of the product range (short and medium-term loans, including loans to finance investments, various types of guarantees).