SME FInAnCE The 2008 financial crisis and subsequent widespread economic downturn have had a huge impact on the availability of finance to SMEs. Already, before the crisis, SMEs in many developing countries had been strongly restricted in accessing the capital that they needed to grow and expand. Banks do not provide SMEs with adequate capital in many of these countries. In fact, only 20% of African SMEs have a line of credit from a financial institution. The financial crisis has further increased the financing gap for SMEs in developing countries (AfDB 2012; Dalberg 2011