Kamelia Mineva: There are funds, the challenges are to reach small and medium-sized enterprises for meaningful investments

"It is certainly not a challenge to mobilize funds to go to small and medium-sized enterprises. I have already shared several times on panels that funds are available. In the last 12 months alone, we have signed agreements with the European Investment Fund, with the European Investment Bank for over 2 billion BGN".

This was announced by Kamelia Mineva, Executive Director and Member of the Management Board of ProCredit Bank, from the rostrum of the most successful forum for green transition - "Green Transition Forum 4.0 - New perspectives for Central and Eastern Europe", organized for the fourth year in a row by Dir. bg and 3E News. The three-day conference was held from June 26 to 28 in Sofia's Event Center. During the event, more than 2,500 people, including more than 750 top managers from 18 different countries, held the key conversation about tomorrow's world.

On the first day of the forum, Kamelia Mineva participated in the session "Mobilizing capital for green projects". Lyudmila Petkova, Acting Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Iliyana Tsanova, Deputy Director General and Chief Risk Expert, General Directorate "Budget", EC, Kyriakos Kakouris, Vice President, EIB, Roger Havenit, Deputy Chief Contractor also appeared on the conference stage with her. director, EIF, Krasimira Raicheva, regional manager of Visa, Bulgaria, and Tsanko Arabadzhiev, CEO, Bulgarian Development Bank, moderated by Liliana Pavlova, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (2019 - 2023).

At the beginning of her speech, Kamelia Mineva expressed her gratitude to the organizers of the event, Dir.bg and 3E News, for participating in "Green Transition" for the second year in a row. She started with practical examples and indicated the most common challenges, as the ProCredit Bank she represents has accumulated experience in working with small and medium-sized enterprises in two markets - Bulgarian and Greek. She emphasized that funds are available, but "the challenges are to get these funds to small and medium-sized enterprises for meaningful investments":

"It has already been mentioned that small and medium-sized enterprises are very different from large companies, which are also quite familiar with ESG principles, are already preparing to evaluate certain investments and know how to decarbonize. While with smaller companies already 10 years we're discussing how to make that transition to a greener business. For me, what's really changed in the last 2-3 years is that we're increasingly discussing the risks with them or the risks that are coming from climate change. You know we are privileged, if I may say so, to live in Europe, which is the fastest warming continent, and Bulgaria is certainly no exception. In Bulgaria, we are already seeing temperature anomalies of over 2 degrees Celsius this year absolute temperature records are expected and many other risks follow from that, which will affect a large part of the small and medium-sized enterprises we work with".

The executive director of ProCredit Bank gave an example in the "Agriculture" sector. She pointed out that the realistic scenarios for Bulgaria are that in the next few years the rainfall in the eastern part of the country will decrease by about 30%, which will certainly reflect on the businesses with which the bank works. At ProCredit Bank, more than 15% of the portfolio deals with the agricultural sector. At the same time, droughts are expected in the other part of the country.

"These are the risks that we have been discussing with our clients in recent years. If before the focus was green investments and how they help to optimize the operating costs of the business, how they help the profit and higher competitiveness, recently the topics are that climate change are felt and that there must be a reaction to deal with these risks", explained Kamelia Mineva.

She once again drew attention to the fact that there are funds and they remain to be realized.

"Perhaps the number 1 challenge is the question of what is actually a green investment? For all the programs we use, including the guarantee programs at the level of Bulgaria, the criteria for a green investment are still different, so very often we have to discuss with our clients two, three, four, five different criteria of what constitutes a sustainable investment for them to make and which is possible to be financed under these programs", said the Executive Director of ProCredit Bank and admitted that this "is still confusing for the small and medium business".

Some of the programs are also selective in terms of the investments that can be used, and this is quite a challenge for banks.

"In our case, as I mentioned, we have more than 10 years of experience, we have established teams with excellent expertise, colleagues have undergone a sufficient number of trainings to be able to discuss these topics with our clients, but in terms of documentation, some of the SME programs can still seem bureaucratic in terms of clients and our day-to-day dealings with them. So, in the banking sector, in order for all that capital to really be mobilized and get to the companies, a lot of internal expertise has to be built inside the bank to be able to communicate with the customers and get to really absorbing the funds." Kamelia Mineva explained.

To help the funds reach the business and explain the risks and how the transformation to a more competitive and sustainable business model can be carried out, this year ProCredit Bank launched a carbon emission calculator. The goal is that "by the end of the year, each client will have the opportunity to calculate the greenhouse gases from each aspect of the business according to an international methodology, so that we can then discuss how we can improve them".

Kamelia Mineva concluded by saying that the role of ProCredit Bank in daily communication with business, apart from financing and mobilizing capital, is to have information, predictability and communication with international institutions, "so that we can bring to business more and more different programs, which push it towards the green transition".

The largest and most significant conference on the Green Deal "Green Transition Forum 4.0: New perspectives for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)" is organized by Dir.bg and 3E-news. The forum was held from June 26 to 28. Representatives of more than 18 countries appeared on the conference stages in Sofia Event Center, with a total of more than 2,500 participants, of which more than 750 top managers, held the key conversation about tomorrow's world.

The event is organized by Dir.bg and 3E-news in partnership with ACT Commodities, ProCredit Bank, Visa, European Investment Bank, Elektrohold, Yettel, Artex Engineering AD, UBB, Aurubis Bulgaria, Glavbolgarstroy Holding, Bulgarian Stock Exchange, UniCredit Bulbank, Bulgarian development bank, Geotechmin, Energeo, MET Energy Trading Bulgaria, Dundee Precious Metals, FLAG Fund, ICGB, The Oil and Gas Employers" Federation, Electric Power System Operator, Bulgartransgaz, Fund of Funds, Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD, Kozloduy NPP, Westinghouse, Philip Morris Bulgaria, BMF Port Burgas AD, Information Service, Bulgarian Natural Gas Association, REIB, PCONTRADE, Omega Power Group, PHOTOMATE, OMV Petrom, Bulgarian Recycling Association, TTS (Transport Trade Services) S.A, Morningside Hill, CWP Global , DEVIN, Smart Energy Trade.

Green Transition 2024 is implemented with the media support of BNT, BTA, BNR, bTV Media Group, Bulgarіa ON AІR, Investor.bg, Darik Radio, Darik Business Review, Euroactive, Economic.bg, ESGnews.bg and The Recursive.