As a small business, you need capital to grow your business. But, many times, this capital will need to come from some sort of financing. And in order to receive this financing, your business needs strong credit. Many business owners make the mistake of relying on their personal credit for business needs, but if you really want to operate on trade credit, get financing, and so forth, it’s important to build your own separate business credit. Here are a few tips on how to do it fast:

1. Ensure Your Business is Registered

In order for the credit bureaus to start evaluating you as a business, your business needs to be on the “map”. It’s important that you have registered your business. You need to register your business name, establish it as a legal entity, and most importantly obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN), which is your federal tax identification number. An EIN serves the same purpose as a Social Security Number does for you personally. It’s also what the bureaus will use to recognize your business.

2. Separate Your Accounts

The next step to help boost your credit is to separate your personal transactions and your business transactions. As a business owner, it can be difficult to draw the line between business and personal, especially considering how much of your own self you put into it all. However, your bank account can’t be one of these blurred lines. It’s crucial that you open up a separate bank account. Many times, suppliers will ask for bank references for your business, and it’s important you have these. Some credit bureaus will also evaluate your banking history, so the longer that history is, the better. Not to mention, it’s a great way to ensure your personal spending doesn’t dip into your necessary working capital.

3. Get  a Credit Card

The easiest way to start building a credit history is to get a business credit card. As you know, applying for a credit card is extremely easy and, thankfully, all your credit card activity is reported to the bureaus. Be wise in the credit card you choose. Business transactions naturally tend to be larger than personal transactions, so be sure to pick a great rewards card that will allow you to see some benefit from that spending (such as cash back or air miles).

4. Open a Line

Another way to begin populating your credit history is to try to take out a line of credit with a supplier. This can be tricky at the beginning if you don’t have any credit, but it is certainly worth asking. If you don’t have any luck with local suppliers, try some big brands such as Staples, who not only have a greater ability to offer a credit line, but they also report to the credit agencies. In the beginning, when you are taking out a credit line simply to build your history, be sure that the supplier reports payment behavior. Unfortunately, only a small portion of businesses report to the agencies. The bureaus won’t be able to report on your good credit if it hasn’t been reported to them.

5. Pay on Time (or Early)

Remember, you want your credit report to reflect positively on you. Therefore, it’s crucial that the lines of credit you take out are paid promptly. Credit scores reflect your ability to pay on time, so make sure you are paying those credit card bills and invoices on or before the payment due date. Something that is unique in business credit, as well, is acknowledging that a business pays early. Since so many business operate on net terms, if you normally pay your bills early, your credit score will reflect this and get a giant boost. To build excellent credit, it’s pertinent you pay on time, and a plus if you pay early.

Even if you never think your business will need financing, net terms or a credit line, you can’t predict what the future holds. Therefore, it’s important that you start building your business credit today, ensuring your business has a great reputation, and no doors will ever be closed because you’re not on the credit map.

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Meredith Wood is the Director of Community Relations at Funding Gates, an online application for small businesses that allows them to track, organize and manage their accounts receivable all with simple clicks. An avid small business writer, Meredith’s work can be seen on Amex OPEN Forum, Fox Business, AllBusiness and many other small business sites. Connect with Meredith on Twitter @FundingGates.

Few lenders consider small agricultural producers to be attractive borrowers - and not without reason. Farmer cooperatives and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often lack sufficient collateral. Moreover, lenders consider agriculture to be particularly risky; farms are often located in remote areas, crops are vulnerable to pests and unpredictable weather, and prices are susceptible to rapid changes. Furthermore, smallholder farmers and cooperative management often lack strong business and financial management skills, making it difficult for them to apply for and manage a loan. These risks can turn even a short-term loan into a bad investment.To help address these challenges, the Rainforest Alliance launched its Sustainable Finance Initiative, which helps farmers and SMEs access different types of loans.

According to the SME Annual Report 2012, small and medium enterprises represent 98.5% of the approximately 78,000 companies in Malaysia, with the remaining 1.5% made up of multinational and public-listed companies.

In many developed nations, SMEs are thought to contribute between 40% and 60% to gross domestic product and 60% and 70% of the employment, but the SME sector in Malaysia has not reached the mark yet.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin recently said, “SMEs in Malaysia contribute 31% to the GDP and 59% to employment. The SME sector has a lot of catching up to do as we work towards achieving developed nation status by 2020”.

The SME Finance Forum is partnering with Finovate, which brings together innovators in financial and banking applications. The sold-out Finovate Fall event held in New York on September 10 and 11, 2013 featured innovative financial technology from nearly 70 firms.Solutions for banks and other lenders:

• Backbase (United States) is rolling out software solutions for commercial banking. It contains apps such as Cash Management Dashboards, Invoicing, Financing, FX Trading etc.
• Kofax (United States) allows borrowers to keep track of the loan origination process. They can also take pictures of required documents with their mobile phone and send them in. Kofax cuts down loan processing cost and time.
• Luminous (South Africa) offers an online business loan PreApprover app. Customers can use it anonymously to determine if they fit the bank’s lending criteria, without negatively affecting their credit rating. Successful applicants can quickly and easily convert their anonymous pre-approval, into a formal loan application.
• QuarterSpot's (Unites States) innovative Artificial Intelligence-driven underwriting platform can incorporate millions of pieces of real-time data from business bank accounts, business credit profiles and more to execute a pre-approval decision in seconds. It offers SMEs a cost of capital as much as 85% lower than other lenders and does not require personal collateral to secure loans.
• Lighter Capital (United States) developed an SME lending platform that integrated Customer Relationship Management data (e.g. via Salesforce software) in addition to accounting and banking data to predict borrower’s future performance. Lighter Capital invests 50,000-500,000 USD into companies with revenues of 15,000 USD per month and up.
• Capital Access Network's (United States) Mobile Funder is a tablet-based solution that lets “on-the-move” small business finance reps to quickly and securely pre-quality prospects, authorize credit checks and propose multiple financing options. 
• SimpleVerity (United States) is a fully automated SME credit verification process. Using a social approach (e.g. Yelp reviews) and proprietary analytics, it can produce a reliable credit report on any SME in America – even those with little or no data in file at major credit bureaus.

Mobile Payment Solutions:

• Zooz (Israel) is a mobile/web payment platform that allows one-tap checkout for consumers and plug-and-play solution for merchants. Zooz has partnerships with leading payment gateways, processors and e-wallets.
• DoubleBeam's (United States) e-checks mobile app links users’ bank accounts just by taking a picture of a blank check and stores information to process low-cost e-chaecks as a method of payment. It saves merchants up to 80% off the cost of credit card interchange fees.
• Verify Valid (United States) lets customers make and receive payments online. Through its partnership with Deluxe Cororation (United States) it can offer e-check payment services to 4 million SMEs and 5,700 bank customers.
• PayWith (Canada) dynamically generates a virtual credit card on a user’s phone for every transaction. These Mobile Payment Cards (mCARDS) also merge rewards, loyalty and gifts with payments.

Other:

• BizEquity (United States) offers a web-based tool that SMEs can use to estimate the value of their business. This can potentially help them if they are planning to sell their business, get credit or figure out how much insurance they need to get.
• Unleash's (United States) Cloud CFO is a business-intelligence software that SMEs can use as a financial decision-making tool. It  includes a “peer index” functionality which shows SMEs how they stack up against their competition. It also gives SMEs a “uScore”, which the is the equivalent of a FICO for business health. 

The importance of dividing entrepreneurs into two distinct categories: transformational and subsistence was the topic of an inspiring talk of MIT Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance, Antoinette Schoar at the World Bank. In crude terms, subsistence entrepreneurs are solely concerned about their survival, and are tiny businesses and unlikely to grow or create new jobs. However, it needs to be said that they remain an important economic pillar, especially for developing countries. Contrarily, transformational entrepreneurs, the considerably smaller group of the two, strive for growth, are generally larger business owners, and provide relatively secure employment opportunities for others. They are the catalysts of innovation, job creation, productivity, and competitiveness. This leads to a crucial question for development – should we target our policies towards entrepreneurs with transformational qualities even though they may not be the poorest of the poor since these are the ones that create more, sustainable and (often) productive employment?

Even after decades of progress toward the equality of women, almost 90 percent of countries surveyed in a recent study continue to have a law or regulation that prevents women legally from fully using their economic opportunities.

The CSR Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School and Business Fights Poverty Release New Study of The Coca-Cola Company’s 5by20 InitiativeWomen’s economic empowerment is a powerful development driver. For instance, Goldman Sachs estimates that closing the gender gap in 15 high potential emerging markets could increase projected per capita incomes there by 14% by 2020 and 20% by 2030. At the same time, studies show that women’s economic empowerment has positive multiplier effects on nutrition, health, and education.The Coca-Cola Company knows that women are key to development – and that it cannot realize its own potential for growth without them. On the retail side, women have a strong presence in the so-called “traditional trade,” running many of the corner stores, kiosks, market stalls, and street carts that make up one of the Company’s most important sales channels. On the supply side, the Company is working to expand and diversify its sources of agricultural commodities like coffee, tea, citrus, and other fruits around the world (for example, through partnerships like Project Nurture). And in developing countries, half of potential sources – half of all farmers – are women. Women are also the primary buyers of Coca-Cola products.With the business and development imperatives in mind, in 2010, The Coca-Cola Company made a commitment to economically empower five million women entrepreneurs through its global value chain by the year 2020. But what does this commitment – dubbed 5by20 – mean in practice?Most importantly, it does not mean an enormous pot of funds to be doled out from corporate headquarters in Atlanta. 20 regional business units and nearly 250 bottling partners manage Coca-Cola’s global value chain, and women’s economic empowerment will only happen sustainably and at scale if it is driven at the same level – in line with local and regional business priorities, capabilities, and resources, as well as the context and needs of women there. As a result, 5by20 will require a significant upswell in awareness and implementation of women’s economic empowerment practices within the rank and file at Coca-Cola business units and bottling partners all over the world. The Company is supporting this upswell with an ambitious global goal, set by CEO Muhtar Kent, and a lean corporate support structure offering knowledge, best practices and tools, strategic social investment, and monitoring and evaluation help. This approach will take more time than check writing – but its impact on the Coca-Cola system may also be more profound, catalyzing the economic empowerment of women more sustainably and on a larger scale. To learn more, read the full report, released today.

According to a study by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), there are between nine and 11 million micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and around 1.8 million in Saudi Arabia alone. The IFC further estimates that the credit gap in this segment in the MENA region is upwards of $300bn, i.e. SMEs would require $300bn of additional banking facilities not received today for them to optimally operate. This very sizeable credit gap presents a challenge as well as an opportunity to banks and governments alike.In the remainder of this article I will look at three elements that are important when trying to bridge the credit gap. Two of these focus on changes required at the banks themselves, whereas the third considers the role of governments.

In looking at ways to bring financial services to the more than two billion people outside formal financial systems, often the focus has been on piecemeal efforts to improve specific elements such as product design, pricing, delivery, banking regulation, or consumer protection. A new report by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and McKinsey and Company, however, declares that the time has arrived to consider an entirely new framework for providing financial services and payment systems thanks to the phenomenal spread of digital communications

The Women’s Entrepreneurship Diagnostic concludes with a prioritized short list of binding constraints. They represent only those constraints related to gender gaps in SME entrepreneurship in the country studied.