Swedish micro loans and other sources of funding for small enterprises

When a country faces a decline in business activity, companies have to struggle to gain external capital. It is even more important for small enterprises to get capital, as they normally do not have enough collateral to receive traditional bank loans. In Bangladesh, Grameen Bank started with micro credit programs in the early 90’s, that included small capital loans and leasing of machines. Nowadays these micro credit programs have developed to function even in industrialized countries. In Sweden ALMI företagspartner, wich is a public utility, has started to give small loans (up to 250 000 SEK) to companies that does not qualify for traditional bank loan terms. With reference to the above presented issues, we will in this paper discus show the Swedish view on microloans have developed over the years and what terms and conditions companies need to fulfill to receive this type of loan. Furthermore the paper will display other sources of funding for small enterprises that are in need of capital. The study showed that there are several elements that affect a company's credit rating when applying for external capital. However there are many different sources of funding, with advantages and disadvantages that a small enterprise can turn to. The result of this paper is firstly that a recession affects small enterprises in many ways, especially when it comes to bank loans. Secondly it shows that the number of loan applications to ALMI företagspartner has increased drastically. To sum up; Small enterprises always struggle to obtain external capital when they faces economic problems or just wants to expand its operations