Webinar: Supporting SMEs in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Asia-Pacific

22 July 2020 – Jointly organized by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) and the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) of the United Nations, the webinar brought together policymakers, researchers and entrepreneurs from developing countries to share their first-hand experiences on helping SMEs respond to the global crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic not only presents an alarming health crisis but also brings significant disruption to global economies and great challenges to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). In fact, SMEs have to be among the top priorities in the response to the crisis in many countries, particularly the lower-income countries in the developing world, where formal SMEs contribute up to 40% of national income (GDP) and 70% of employment. According to the World Bank, these numbers are significantly higher when informal SMEs are also included. Helping SMEs respond and recover better will also contribute to poverty alleviation in the Global South, as jobs offered by SMEs often directly benefit the poor and vulnerable, such as women and youth.

Click the video for webinar recording.

Click here for the Summary of Discussion (PDF).

The webinar aimed to:

• Discuss the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic to SMEs in the developing countries;
• Highlight what countries are doing, both in the short term and long term, to minimize the impact on SMEs and help them recover;
• Provide an outlook of how countries can work together through South-South and Triangular cooperation on boosting SMEs development in the post-pandemic period.

The following is the detail of the speakers.