Entrepreneurs are inherently optimistic. They think and act in terms of opportunities and solutions instead of problems. This way, they create jobs, develop new products and services, and provide solutions to societal challenges. However, the private financing market often overlooks SMEs, and the public schemes by the government are not always effective. The CDA wants to change that.
The major transitions of our time, such as sustainability and digitalization, demand a lot from SME entrepreneurs and their employees. To meet these challenges, SMEs must invest. In themselves, in future earning capacity, and thus in our society.
Worrying is therefore the recent survey by MKB-Nederland and VNO-NCW: entrepreneurs are pessimistic about their future and declining investments. Regulatory pressure and permit granting are the main bottlenecks, according to the entrepreneurs themselves.
SMEs are being left to their fate too much. Because while the private financing market often overlooks SMEs, the public schemes by the government are not always effective. Thats a missed opportunity.
There is a lot of financing available in the market, but they find the risks too great and the return too small. To counter this, the SME Credit Guarantee scheme was created. It does not work well enough yet. The CDA therefore advocates for an SME Credit Guarantee that sufficiently reduces risks for the financier and increases returns so that it is attractive to invest in SMEs. For example, by lowering the fee or setting up portfolio guarantees.
Another example: Invest-NL was established to finance transition tasks and to fill the gap left by the market in business financing. It is now time to develop Invest-NL into an investment bank and the recognizable contact point for financing and development questions from SME entrepreneurs. By concentrating the schemes that are now scattered over numerous counters and government agencies here, the government has a reliable partner for entrepreneurs and their financiers. To meet what SMEs need now, the schemes should be more focused on sustainability, scaling up, and innovation. Only in this way do we make SMEs future-proof.
There are people ready to lend money to someone they know so they can invest in their business, but we forget to encourage this behavior.
Inge van Dijk
Fortunately, there are more opportunities than just investments by the market or the government. There are people ready to lend money to someone they know so they can invest in their business, for example, to innovate or scale up. Previously, this was rewarded with a tax advantage for the lender, but we have forgotten to appreciate and encourage this behavior. Therefore, the CDA proposes to reintroduce this advantage via a win-win scheme. This way, we give private investors the final push to invest in the local small or medium-sized business and thereby the local community.
Day in and day out, SMEs take responsibility for a livable society and a decent country. To give small and medium-sized businesses the recognition they deserve, the CDA wants them to get their fair share. This way, we invest in society by financing SMEs.