GSB funds target 20 SMEs

State-owned Government Savings Bank (GSB) expects its venture capital funds to invest in an additional 20 small and mediumsized enterprises within the next six months, making the funds the country’s largest investors in SMEs.

The funds will spend a combined 200-300 million baht to hold stakes in the 20 SME operators, bringing their investment size to 400-500 million baht, said GSB president and chief executive Chatchai Payuhanaveechai.

GSB and the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) have jointly invested 2 billion baht in three capital venture funds, with the former holding 80% in each fund and the SET owning the rest, to invest in SMEs engaged in food, IT and financial business.

The first and the second funds have investment budget of 500 million baht each, while the third has 1 billion.

The venture capital funds are part of the government’s stimulus for SMEs.

“If we are able to jointly invest 400-500 million baht in these [20] SMEs, we will become the country’s largest investors in SMEs. Our investment averages at around 20 million baht in each SME as we want to support small SMEs. We’ll let commercial banks do larger investments,” he said.

The bank’s joint venture will help SME operators improve their marketing and products, he said, adding that the GSB-led venture capital funds have put money into SMEs with innovation in animations and drones.

Apart from the venture capital funds, the bank has supported SME operators through lending and contests to help create new startups over the past 3-5 years, he said.

“Most recently, the bank has set up a new business unit to support SMEs and startups. We aim to loan 10 billion baht to these operators and jointly invest as much as possible through venture capital funds,” he said.

GSB’s SME loan portfolio amounts to 70-80 billion baht, with about 100,000 customers.

The bank plans to hold “Smart SMEs Smart Startup” during Dec 1-3 to showcase SMEs and startups’ products and innovations, and offer the 10-billion-baht loan with zero interest for a certain period to SMEs and startups.