BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-The Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) has clarified that the Financial Inclusion and Entrepreneurship Scaling (FinES) Project does not provide grants to entrepreneurs but instead facilitates access to loans through financial institutions.
The clarification is contained in a letter dated March 12, 2026 addressed to Concerned Citizens of Malawi and signed by Ralph Tseka, Project Manager for the FinES Project, explaining the structure and objectives of the programme.
RBM explained that the FinES project is a Government of Malawi initiative implemented by the central bank on behalf of the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralisation.
According to RBM, the project is financed through a loan of about US$86 million from the World Bank Group through its lending arm, the International Development Association (IDA).
The bank said the main objective of the project is to increase access to financial services and promote entrepreneurship by strengthening micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) across Malawi.
RBM further said the project was also designed to help small
scale businesses recover from the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under the first component of the project, funds are provided to participating financial institutions such as banks, microfinance institutions and Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (SACCOs), which in turn lend the money to entrepreneurs.
The central bank said the funds are provided to the financial institutions at a concessional rate of about 3 percent per year, but entrepreneurs must still meet the lending conditions set by the respective institutions.
“Because these financial institutions are required to repay the funds to the project, there are no grants provided under the FinES project,” RBM said.
The second component of the programme focuses on building the capacity of entrepreneurs through business training, including record keeping, business management and preparation of bankable project proposals.
RBM said the training programme attracted significant interest after expressions of interest were circulated through radio stations and social media platforms in 2023.
A total of 2,268 entrepreneurs met the eligibility criteria to participate in the training, which required businesses to have been operating for at least six months and to have at least two employees, including the owner.
The participants underwent a comprehensive three stage training programme that was completed on February 28, 2026, with the project meeting its targets of training at least 1,000 entrepreneurs in the first stage, 500 in the second stage and 250 in the final stage.
RBM said some entrepreneurs who participated in the training were able to access loans from financial institutions, while others failed to do so due to challenges such as weak business proposals.
Towards the end of 2025, the project engaged the World Bank to reserve additional resources so that trained entrepreneurs could be given another opportunity to access loans under similar terms.
According to RBM, the window for financial institutions to assess and engage interested entrepreneurs opened in January 2026 and is expected to close in mid March as the project approaches its closure on March 31.
The bank has since encouraged the public to access more information about the project through official documentation available on the RBM and World Bank websites.