Alliance Group Leasing took part in SME conference “Removing Barriers to SME Finance in Georgia” in Tbilisi on May 11. Mr. Aieti Kukava, CEO of Alliance Group Leasing participated as a speaker on the second session of the conference titled Boosting SME finance by diversifying financial products and maximizing the value of SME assets”.

The conference was organized at the support and with active participation from the public and private sector of Georgia and aims to contribute to the discussion on SME growth in Georgia by (i) removing barriers to SME growth; (ii) improving access to finance and developing new financial products and services; and 9iii) streamlining financial infrastructure and contract enforcement framework to reduce creditors risks and make SME lending more attractive, affordable and better tailored to the needs of SMEs.

Mamuka Bakhtadze, Minister of Finance of Georgia, Mercy Tembon, Country Director, South Caucasus, World Bank, Giorgi Cherkezishvili, Deputy Minister of economy and Sustainable Development and Jan Van Bilsen, regional manager, International Finance Corporation, WBG, made the opening speeches at the conference.

In his presentation “Practices and Challenges in expanding leasing and factoring financing in Georgia” Aieti Kukava reviewed the Georgian leasing and factoring market, described the challenges and possible solutions, and underlined the key importance of leasing and factoring of being a locomotive for the SMEs to develop.