About the Financial Marketplace
The Financial Marketplace is an ongoing project of FAST to facilitate sustainable SMEs access to quality trade finance, and help close the financing gap. The Marketplace presents all FAST stakeholders with information critical to making informed decisions about financing. It helps potential borrowers learn about the financing options best suited to their business. It allows lenders better connect with under-served businesses and find the areas where their investments will have the greatest impact.
The Financial Marketplace is developed thanks to the support of Oxfam Novib and the Citi Foundation.
Launched at the first FAST Annual General Meeting in April, 2009 during the Specialty Coffee Association of America conference in Atlanta, GA, the Financial Marketplace is accessible immediately through a free FAST site account (click here for instructions on how to sign up).
The Marketplace is a tool that aims to help bridge the financing gap by helping borrowers and financial service providers connect more efficiently. As a central access point for sustainable trade finance, it gives sustainable enterprises the tools they need to make an informed decision on the appropriate financing option for their enterprise. Aside from the benefits of better-informed applicants, the social lenders working with FAST receive more streamlined access to their intended audience and a better picture of the entire sustainable trade financing market.
The Financial Marketplace promises to simplify access to financing for the many thousands of producers serving sustainable supply chains worldwide. The idea and design of the Financial Marketplace, which emerged as a core project during the initial FAST stakeholder meetings, represents the most substantive communications product to be offered by FAST to date.
In an effort to more accurately serve the needs of producers in identifying appropriate financing opportunities, the Financial Marketplace enables producer groups to search for a lender that offers services for their specific type of business. These criteria can be certification(s) held, product type(s), location of enterprise, loan amount required and length of term desired.
Over the course of the coming year, the Financial Marketplace will see the addition of new lenders and additional services for FAST members.
You can begin using the Financial Marketplace today by creating a free FAST site account (click here for instructions on how to sign up).
- For helpful information from lenders about how to search for financing, read our Financing Guide.
- To view all the current offerings of financial service providers participating the Marketplace, visit our Financing Options page.
- To find the most appropriate options, adapted to your requirements, visit our Financing Search page.
- To learn more about the financial service providers taking part in the Marketplace, visit the Service Providers page.
- To find definitions for any of the terms used in the Marketplace, visit the Marketplace Glossary page.
Please note, though we are focused on providing a clear picture of lending options for sustainable SMEs, FAST is not able to make any claims to the accuracy of information available through the Marketplace. Please confirm any information with the appropriate parties before taking any decisions regarding financing.
Beyond this, feel free to contact Sean Watters with any questions or concerns regarding the Marketplace.
Developments of this project have been made possible thanks to the support of:
Oxfam Novib and the Citi Foundation.
