Export trade financing workshop for SMEs’ key persons

Export trade is team play and you should not enter the international markets alone and taking unnecessary risks. You can get support from Finnvera, banks, and credit insurers, for instance. At Finnvera, we find it important that SMEs are familiar with export financing solutions and can protect themselves from credit risks associated with export trade. For this reason, we organise free export trade financing workshops for SMEs, in which key persons from SMEs will learn more about financing solutions used in export trade and means of protection from risks.

In the workshop, tailored according to the SME’s needs, we encourage the key persons to discuss the enterprise’s export credit policy, including the means of protection from credit risk and buyer financing solutions the enterprise could use in its export trade. We want to discuss the export projects the SME has at hand and find financing solutions for them. The goal of the workshop is to give SMEs tools for developing and increasing their export sales. At their best, these solutions do not burden the enterprise’s balance sheet or cash position.

Examples of topics discussed in workshops:

• management of buyer risk with credit insurance, letter of credit, or bank guarantee
• buyer financing with bank overdraft, letter of credit with a payment period, or bill of exchange
• credit risk protection measures and buyer financing solutions that are suitable for the exports of the enterprise in question
• the exporter’s financing for working capital and delivery securities in cooperation with a bank and Finnvera.

The export trade financing workshop is intended for an SME that seeks growth from direct exports and is eligible for financing. We require the enterprise to have concrete export trade transactions at hand, preferably with the first export trade transactions already completed. We also hope that the enterprise’s own bank participates in the workshop.