Small and Medium Enterprises have been urged to build financial trustworthiness to attract sustained financing from financial institutions to grow their businesses. The Western Region Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah, gave the call while speaking at an SME Business Interaction Series in Takoradi attended by hundreds of SMEs from the Western Region, organized by Access Bank and Deloitte Ghana.
Speaking on the theme: SME Financial Empowerment Imperative for Business Resilience, Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah acknowledged that SMEs are so critical to the Ghanaian economy as they provide about 80% of jobs. While recognizing the difficulties many SMEs face in securing capital, especially from the Banking sector, the Western Regional Minister however advised SMEs to build financial credibility to be attractive to finance.
“I also want to admonish that when you take the money, use it well…There are people (SMEs) who collect money from the Banks and use it for something different. We must build trust in this business of taking money from people and paying it back. That is the only way we can survive as businesses. Any business without integrity will not progress beyond the first two years…SMEs must utilize support from financial institutions efficiently.”
“I think the bottom line is to see resilience in businesses that have the potential to transform the economy and those who can create job opportunities so we can deal with some of the challenges of unemployment. If you take the money, it is your responsibility to work harder with that money to create wealth and pay it back. If you don’t manage your business well after four years, people will start describing you as a criminal“, he said.
The Regional Minister further noted that the Western Regional Coordinating Council will partner with the business community to make sure businesses in the region grow.
The Group Head of Access Business Banking, Kafui Bimpe, who said Access has helped to grow the businesses of over a thousand SMEs through the business interaction series which is in its fourth year on his part highlighted the key things SMEs can to do attract financing and grow.
“Sometimes we give them financing and they need to build their capacity to be able to use the funds and therefore we decided to partner with Deloitte to derive that impact, hence we have started this business interaction. What they (SMEs) have to do is professionally do business through records keeping, putting in place good corporate governance structures and making sure that the Banks have visibility in their businesses. That is why we are also helping to move them towards the digital space so they can have records for all transactions “, he said.
The hundreds of SMEs from the Western Region who gathered at the Access Bank and Deloitte Ghana SME Business Interaction Series in Takoradi were taken through utilizing of digital platforms and records keeping for financial accountability as well as introduced to Access Banks numerous services such as Papss and Mpower.
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