Introduction

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises(MSMEs) can be described as the backbone of sustainable economic development. In most developing countries, mainly in Asia, MSME promotion is considered as one of the key policies for poverty reduction, job creation and promotion of supporting industries. Meanwhile, there has been increasing interest in finance for MSMEs. In those countries, however, it is not always easy for MSMEs to access financial resources due to shortage of collateral, insufficiency of financial data and lack of know-how in financial institutions. Although "Microfinance" is recently widespread in many developing countries, it cannot meet all the diverse demands from MSMEs.

Under these circumstances, more and more developing countries, which aim to enhance MSME finance and to build capacity of financial institutions, have been requesting JFC-Micro to provide its experience and know-how on MSME finance. They are paying attention to the fact that JFC-Micro has played a significant role as an institution specialized in MSME finance in Japan for more than 70 years.

In order to respond to such requests, JFC-Micro(NLFC at that time) established International Cooperation Office in 2001. Since then JFC-Micro has provided developing countries with MSME finance know-how such as credit analysis methods in collaboration with ODA institutions.