18 May 2023, Tirana, Albania
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has partnered with Creative Business Solutions (CBS), a business consultancy firm, to launch a regional FinTech solution called LORES+. This new platform will enable small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to apply for loans online and access information on available financial opportunities to grow their businesses, saving them time and effort.
LORES+ is the latest tool and initiative supported by the U.S. Government to boost SMEs in Albania and across the Western Balkans. As a digital solution, LORES+ builds on the success of LORES 1.0, which was also developed with support from USAID through the earlier SmartCapital project. LORES+ is expected to have a greater impact, particularly because of its potential to serve the entire Western Balkans region.
Speaking about the launch of LORES+, Mr. Demian Smith, Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Tirana, said, “SMEs play a critical role in driving economic growth in many economies, including the Western Balkans. In Albania, SMEs represent over 95% of the businesses and employ over 80% of the workforce. Yet, they receive only a quarter of the total financing from financial institutions. To improve SMEs’ bankability and access to finance, we supported the development of LORES+ through our regional USAID CATALYZE Engines of Growth Activity.”
During the launch event, Enio Jaco, CBS Founder and President of American Chamber of Commerce in Albania, presented the new platform and its features, highlighting that LORES+ benefits both SMEs and financial institutions. “It will enable SMEs to access capital in a more efficient way, with application procedures that take less than 90 seconds, free support of our personal LORES advisors and higher loan approval rates (90%). LORES+ will also benefit banks and other financial institutions by attracting new verified clients at exceptionally low risk rate (1% NPL). Additionally, LORES+ will offer free educational content to improve SMEs’ financial literacy and guide them in selecting the most appropriate financial products from those available in the local markets, with a focus on specialty or novelty products such as invoice financing, women-owned or women-managed SMEs” Jaco said.
LORES+ is a regional project that is now kicking off in Albania and later will expand to Kosovo and North Macedonia. The aim is to enable a minimum of $12 million of credit applications, benefiting 285 SMEs over the next 2.5 years.
CBS is a business consulting company and project implementation organization in Albania founded in 2012. CBS’s mission is to drive sustainable economic growth projects through innovative, customer-centric, and environmentally-friendly practices. It consults and implements solutions for local entrepreneurs, organizations, donors, and financial institutions, providing valuable and effective services that generate economic growth in developing economic sectors.
USAID CATALYZE Engines of Growth (EoG) Activity (2020-2024) facilitates small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) resiliency, growth, and job creation in the Western Balkans by improving their access to and utilization of appropriate finance. EoG helps mobilize capital to sustain viable SMEs and jobs in the wake of COVID-19 in the near term and promotes improved SME growth financing in the long term, with a focus on women-owned and women-led SMEs.
