Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), reporting to the Economic Development Department, should: . Commit to educating business owners about generally acceptable business conduct and practices. . Ensure adequacy of staff resources, staff knowledge and ongoing training should feature prominently in SMME institutions. . Provide SMMEs with research and development (R&D) and technical advice to mitigate lending risk. For instance Taiwan focuses on research and development as an important factor to understanding the needs of SMMEs. . Encourage business plan competitions aimed at people with business ideas, seeking working capital. . DFIs should make a strong commitment to implement Government policies that are intended to support SMMEs. . Reduce the red tape that businesses encounter when they seek advice or need assistance to register. . Focus strongly on institutional sustainability and emphasise quick turnaround time. . Develop a monitoring and evaluation tool to ensure SMME growth and sustainability. . Importance should be placed on ongoing communication with SMMEs. . Create networking platforms and establish a national SMME database which would be regarded as useful for promoting SMME business opportunities and facilitating interaction between DFIs and SMMEs and cooperatives. . Establish one stop centres with SMME specialists who will empower business people with the required skills. . Set up Business Assesment Centress (BAC)/Multi-Purpose Centres on a public-private-partnership basis. BAC accreditation would be issued after a successful assessment and would be subject to quarterly reviews. Failure to submit a quarterly review would lead to immediate suspension of bank accounts. There would be a panel of mentors, coaches and or rescue practitioners that would be agreed upon by relevant stakeholders. BAC would have to be run by individuals with a proven commitment to upholding the agreed accreditation criteria. . Any SMME incubation process should focus on entrepreneurial stimulation and development, human capital development through training and mentoring. . Establish SME Mentorship Programmes which will provide opportunities for SME entrepreneurs (who are at their early stages of business) to learn from and be guided by accomplished entrepreneurs and professionals through one-on-one counselling. Mentorship will raise individual performance, educate SMMEs to set realistic goals and draw up business plans. . Consider sectoral solutions rather than a "one size fits" all approach. . Khula needs to consider regional private equity funds which target key sectors - as identified by the Department of Trade & Industry. . Strong emphasis should be placed on credit risk management, close monitoring of client default data and ease of access by SMMEs through an extensive network of branches. . DFIs should be more flexible in allocating appropriate seed capital. . Credit guarantee schemes should focus strongly on networking and learning. . Provide SMMEs with working capital as well as start up finance. . Focused capital rather than loan finance, is more appropriate for creating world class manufacturing SMMEs. . Aggressive marketing is required to promote the work of the DFIs.