Projects
Burkina Faso –
Processing and Distribution of Dried Fruits
Since 2006 the company exports certified organic and fair trade agricultural goods.
Projects
Georgia –
Hazelnut Production
The project sponsors are building the organic and fair trade production of Hazelnuts in Western Georgia.

The SECO Start-up Fund (SSF)

provides loans

  • To investors with domicile in Switzerland
  • for start-up business projects and for financing the first expansion phase of companies in emerging economies (see country list)
  • the financed projects must be commercially viable (SSF does not finance feasibility studies, pilots or prototype development) and meet recognized environmental and social standards
  • maximum amount of the loan: up to two thirds of the investment costs in the target country; maximally two times the amount contributed by the borrowers/investors, maximally CHF 500'000 (all three criteria must be fulfilled)
  • for repayment within 7 years

 

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The SSF is a facility for development loans established by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO. SSF offers loans for start-up business projects of Switzerland domiciled entrepreneurs/enterprises in emerging economies (economies under development or in transition). The management of the SSF is delegated to FINANCEcontact in Zurich.

Investments in emerging economies involve business risks beyond those generally en­countered in Western countries. This is particularly true for young enterprises. With its loans SSF aims to share the financial burden of such ventures with the investors.

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Impact

Portfolio
Active portfolio of
31 loans totalling
CHF 9.4 Mio
Job Creation
Over 16'000
new jobs created
Investments
CHF 28 Mio. committed,
CHF 354 Mio. mobilized
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AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST / ASIA / CIS-COUNTRIES / LATIN AMERICA / EAST AND SOUTH-EAST EUROPE

Our Projects

explore

Latest News

More News

The new year has started promisingly for Swiss-Serbian Start-up BAD SISTEMS in Nis, South Serbia.



Construction work is progressing at Mount Sunzu, the SECO Start-up Fund's latest investment in sustainable coffee production

MPower is a fintech and impact start-up in the energy access space providing renewable energy solutions for private homes and SMEs

Quick Links

Loan applications
Here you find more details on the eligibility criteria and the loan approval process
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Impact
SSF regularly measures the impact of its investments: more and better jobs, private capital mobilization…
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Our projects
Get insights into projects financed by SSF
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Download and links
Find downloads and links related to start-up investing, business planning, financing enterprises in emerging economies
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What our Clients say

FINANCEcontact brings in their expertise in an efficient and constructive manner and helped me and my team to pursue a clear strategy and focus on the key success factors right from the start.
Batchimeg Gadola
Founder Magic Design LLC, Mongolia
The SECO Start-up Fund helped us build our mineral water company from scratch to a strong brand: In our early days we filled 200’000 bottles per year, now we produce this amount in a day!
Miho Svismonishvili
Founder and CEO of Cqali Margebeli, Georgia