MARKUP II Programme: Investment Readiness and Access to Finance Support for East African SMEs

The International Trade Centre, in collaboration with the East African Community, is launching a complete assist programme designed to strengthen small and medium enterprises throughout East Africa. As part of the Market Access Upgrade Programme Phase II funded by the European Union, this six-month initiative goals to improve the capability of SMEs to entry finance and construct significant connections with monetary establishments and buyers.

This programme represents a big alternative for qualifying companies to remodel their monetary administration capabilities, strengthen their funding readiness, and forge beneficial relationships inside the financing ecosystem. Through structured assist and professional steerage, collaborating SMEs shall be geared up to pursue exterior funding alternatives and scale their operations sustainably.

Programme Overview

The six-month programme gives complete assist throughout three interconnected core areas, every designed to deal with essential challenges that SMEs face when in search of to entry finance and develop their companies.

Investment Readiness and Financial Management Capacity

The first pillar focuses on strengthening the foundational components that make companies engaging to buyers and monetary establishments. Participants will develop sturdy monetary administration methods, be taught to current their enterprise circumstances successfully, and construct the inner capability mandatory to handle exterior funding responsibly. This element ensures that SMEs should not solely ready to safe financing but in addition geared up to put it to use successfully for sustainable development.

Facilitating Linkages with Financial Institutions and Investors

Beyond constructing inner capability, the programme actively connects collaborating SMEs with related monetary establishments and potential buyers. These facilitated linkages transcend easy introductions, creating significant relationships based mostly on mutual understanding of enterprise wants and financing alternatives. By bridging the hole between SMEs and the financing neighborhood, the programme addresses probably the most important limitations to enterprise development within the area.

Transaction Advisory Support

The third pillar gives sensible, hands-on steerage all through the financing course of. Transaction advisory assist helps SMEs navigate the complexities of securing exterior funding, from preliminary discussions by means of to deal closure. This ongoing assist ensures that companies can successfully translate their improved readiness and new connections into precise financing outcomes.

Geographic and Sectoral Focus

The programme targets SMEs working throughout six East African nations, every representing dynamic markets with important development potential. Eligible nations embody Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Kenya. This regional strategy displays the built-in nature of the East African economic system and the alternatives for cross-border enterprise growth.

From a sectoral perspective, the programme focuses on worth chains with sturdy export potential and important contributions to regional economies. Eligible sectors embody espresso, tea, cocoa, avocado, leather-based, gum arabic, french beans, important oils, and packaging. These worth chains characterize strategic priorities for East African financial growth and provide substantial alternatives for SME development and worldwide market entry.

Eligibility Requirements

To qualify for programme participation, SMEs should meet a number of particular standards designed to make sure that assist goes to companies with real development potential and readiness to profit from the intervention.

Legal and Operational Status

Applicants have to be legally registered and operational in one of many six goal nations.

•  Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi. South Sudan, Tanzania and Kenya.
• Operate in not less than one of many listed worth chains. Coffee, Tea, Cocoa, Avocado, Leather, Gum Arabic, French Beans, Essential Oils, and Packaging.

This requirement ensures that collaborating companies have established their formal presence and are working inside acknowledged authorized frameworks, offering a basis for sustainable enterprise relationships with monetary establishments.

Sectoral Alignment

Businesses should function in not less than one of many listed worth chains. This focus ensures that programme sources think about sectors with strategic significance to the East African economic system and sturdy potential for worldwide market entry.

Business Maturity

Applicants should have been in enterprise for a minimal of two years. This requirement signifies that the enterprise has moved past the startup part and has established operations, making it higher positioned to take in financing and obtain sustainable development.

Financial Documentation

Having monetary statements for the final two years is a compulsory requirement. This documentation demonstrates monetary self-discipline and gives the muse for funding readiness actions. It additionally ensures that companies can interact meaningfully with monetary establishments that require historic monetary data for decision-making.

Revenue Threshold

Applicants should display an annual income of minimal US$ 80,000. This threshold ensures that collaborating companies have achieved a sure scale and income era capability that makes them viable candidates for exterior financing and justifies the funding of their capability growth.

Commitment to Financing

Perhaps most significantly, candidates have to be genuinely and dedicated to elevating exterior funding for their enterprise over the subsequent 12 months. This dedication ensures that programme sources assist companies with quick financing wants and actual intention to pursue funding alternatives.

Selection Process and Timeline

The programme has restricted availability, reflecting the intensive nature of the assist supplied to every collaborating SME. Selection shall be carried out on a rolling foundation, which means purposes shall be reviewed as they’re acquired quite than suddenly on the programme deadline. This strategy encourages early submission and permits the programme to start working with certified companies as quickly as doable.

Given the rolling choice course of, SMEs are strongly inspired to submit their purposes early quite than ready till the deadline. Early submission will increase the probability of securing a spot within the programme earlier than obtainable slots are crammed.

Application Process

Interested SMEs ought to submit their Expression of Interest by means of the devoted on-line application kind. The kind will acquire important details about your small business, together with authorized registration particulars, monetary efficiency, sectoral focus, and financing aims. Applicants ought to put together related documentation, together with enterprise registration paperwork and latest monetary statements, to assist their application.

The application deadline is November 24, 2025. However, given the rolling choice course of, submission effectively earlier than this date is advisable.

Support and Inquiries

For extra details about the programme, eligibility standards, application necessities, or every other questions, candidates can contact the Access to Finance and Investment group immediately at financing@intracen.org. The group is out there to present clarification and steerage all through the application course of.

Programme Impact and Opportunity

This initiative represents extra than simply technical assist for particular person companies. By strengthening the funding readiness of East African SMEs and facilitating their connections with the financing ecosystem, the programme contributes to broader financial growth objectives within the area. Participating companies achieve not solely quick assist but in addition lasting capability and relationships that may serve them effectively past the six-month programme interval.

For qualifying SMEs dedicated to development and prepared to pursue exterior financing, this programme presents a beneficial alternative to speed up their growth trajectory. The mixture of capability constructing, relationship facilitation, and transaction assist addresses the a number of limitations that usually forestall promising companies from accessing the finance they want to scale.

The programme displays the European Union’s ongoing dedication to supporting personal sector growth in East Africa and the International Trade Centre’s experience in serving to companies entry markets and finance. Through this partnership with the East African Community, the initiative leverages regional information and networks to maximize its impression on collaborating SMEs.

Don’t miss this chance to strengthen your small business and entry the financing wanted for development. Submit your Expression of Interest earlier than November 24, 2025.

For extra data: financing@intracen.org

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