BEST — USAID's Five-Year Financial-Access Push for Mongolian SMEs

Launched in December 2019 by USAID, with the Mongolian NGO Development Solutions as implementing partner and funding of roughly MNT 40.7 billion (~US$15 million), the Business Excellence for Sustainability and Transparency (BEST) programme aimed to widen Mongolian SMEs' access to finance and strengthen transparency and accountability practices, particularly for underserved entrepreneurs.
Over five years, more than 5,000 businesses secured over $90 million (MNT 300 billion) in loans, with training in financial management, marketing and loan documentation. Women-led businesses received more than half of all loan funding, benefiting 3,005 female entrepreneurs. A small-grants window for rural provinces disbursed $500,000 to 176 start-ups and small businesses, spurring rural economic activity.
The programme contributed to over 4,000 new jobs. It formally closed out in October 2024, ending direct USAID funding; continuity now depends on Mongolian financial institutions and Development Solutions sustaining the approach without confirmed follow-on donor funding — a common transition risk for donor-funded SME-finance programmes.

Read the full analysis: https://montsame.mn/en/read/354487