Maputo, Sept. 28, 2026 (Lusa) - The Mozambique Mutual Guarantee Fund has supported access to finance for 630 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in about a year of operation and plans to step up its focus on projects led by women.
In an interview with Lusa in Maputo, the chair of the Mozambique Guarantee Society, Beatriz Freitas, explained that the fund was set up to facilitate MSME access to credit in a context characterised by a financial system she described as «very particular».
«We have only been in the market for about one year, and we are already seeing the fruits of this growth. We now have more than 630 businesses supported by the guarantee. This means 630 Mozambican businesses have secured financing because they had access to this guarantee. And this will enable them to grow, create jobs and drive further growth for the Mozambican economy,» she said.
The Mutual Guarantee Fund has been operational since last year and currently works with the Mozambican banks Banco Comercial de Investimentos (BCI), Standard Bank and Absa Bank. The World Bank funds it with a $120 million (€104.9 million) grant and aims to support the financing of 15,000 domestic companies, contributing to the creation of more than 20,000 jobs.
Beatriz Freitas, who became the first woman and the first Portuguese national to head the fund, recalled that Mozambique's president, Daniel Chapo, officially launched the initiative on 1 August 2025, saying at the time that the scheme should help turn «dreams into businesses» and «ideas into jobs», particularly for young people and women.
At least 40% of the businesses that have benefited are led by women, one of the fund's priorities, Freitas emphasised. As she explained, Mozambique's government has identified the lack of collateral as one of the main obstacles to accessing credit, leading commercial banks to be reluctant to finance small businesses.
«The fund aims to ensure that Mozambican businesses, particularly micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, can grow sustainably through access to finance. The overarching objective is always the country's economic growth. And behind that, there must be businesses that are sustainable, that have better working conditions and that create more jobs,» she said.
She explained that the scheme reduces the risk for commercial banks.
«The fund helps with guarantees and ensures that companies are viewed as lower-risk. This is because banks often finance companies only when they have a credit history, robust financial statements, and well-established management models,» she added.
According to Freitas, the main opportunity for small businesses lies in addressing the collateral requirement banks need to grant credit, a gap the fund now seeks to fill.
In addition to projects led by women, the fund prioritises initiatives linked to renewable energy, environmental conservation, tourism, trade and agriculture – a sector that, according to the fund manager, presents lower risk and tends to require less collateral.
Freitas also acknowledged that low financial literacy constitutes another barrier to accessing bank credit. To address this challenge, the Mozambique Guarantee Society is working with microfinance institutions and other local financial institutions to build the capacity of small and medium-sized enterprises.
These institutions are also key to expanding the fund's reach beyond Maputo, where most supported operations are still concentrated. The Mozambique Guarantee Society is currently seeking to raise its profile across the country through awareness-raising campaigns carried out in partnership with commercial banks.
«We have visited all the northern provinces and always try to speak not only with business owners, through local business organisations, but also with the banks, because this is a new mechanism. It did not exist and has never existed here in Mozambique. Therefore, not only do businesses need to understand how it works, but the banks also need to understand it so they can bring it to market,» he explained.
The project aims to support around 15,000 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises over the next seven years.
«But that's over a period of seven years. I think the results we've achieved, bearing in mind we started a year ago, are positive. First, we signed three contracts, and then we entered an important phase of implementing the processes with our partners. What we've seen over the last three months has been very rapid growth in the number of secured loan transactions,» she concluded.
PME/ADB // ADB.
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