Growing Company Gets ICF-SME Boost

If you buy an aspirin in Baghdad, chances are it may have passed through Pharmacist Bushra Zaki’s hands. Her company, Al-Zumurrud, imports and distributes medicines through its warehouse in the Karada section of the city near Al-Watheq Square. Recently, she secured an attractively-priced $60,000 loan from Iraqi Middle East Bank so she could obtain a license to become the Iraqi sales agent for several foreign drug companies. Currently, most drugs and medicines are purchased in neighboring countries and brought into Iraq by traders. “Having my own agency for Iraq will allow me to import high-quality medicines directly from reputable companies and sell them at a lower price,” says Bushra.

Pharmacist Bushra Zaki with some of her medicinal inventory.

Bushra’s Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) loan carried a lower than normal interest rate because it was funded, in part, by the Iraqi Company for Financing SMEs (ICF-SME). Started with a $6 million grant from the USAID-Tijara Provincial Economic Development Program, ICF-SME loans money to Iraqi banks who which then lend the funds to promising businesses at rates 20% cheaper than the market norm. The loans are designed to strengthen the commercial banking system, help entrepreneurs grow their business and allow companies like Al-Zumurrud to create new jobs.