By Elizabeth Chukwuma
Access Bank plc, appears to have taken a cue from the United Bank of Africa UBA plc, under the close watch of Olivr Alawuba, to invest in Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, SMEs, growth, in Nigeria and other African countries where it has established presence.
Between 2019 and now, Muyiwa Akenyemi, the UBA plc, Deputy Group, DGMD, Managing Director, had said that the bank have increased its funding of the SMEs, in Nigeria and other African countries by. Indeed, having pioneered the products and services, specifically targeted at the African SMEs and the young African entrepreneurs, including women entrepreneurs, towards meeting their financial needs, to have access to markets and building capacity may have sustained them so far.
Note that as at November, 2022, the bank which had focused on creating value, connecting and facilitating business, across the African Continent and between the African countries, was said to have invested funds to the tune of $7.7 million in SMEs and export trade of N29.4 billion.
Akinyemi, the UBA, PLC, DGMD, had said that that though the Money Deposit Bank, MDB, had supported hundreds of the SMEs, in countries where the Bank, has established presence in Africa, Europe and the North American country of the United States, US, over the years, he disclosed that the support has not only being in manufacturing and services sectors but also in the
Creative industry and Fintech.
Okonkwo Etoabasi, a past President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry , LCCI, had said that UBA plc, deserve Commendations for its continuous support to the SMEs as ‘’it had prioritized on capacity building and valuable financial Advisory services for the SMEs, through its quarterly Webinar sessions and trainings’’.
Acess Bank, on its part,had said that it has budgeted $1 billion to spend on the African SMEs in the next five years for their sustainability. That much was confirmed by Seyi Kumapayi, the Bank’s Executive Director, in charge of African subsidiaries at an SMEs Immersion Round table in Lagos, the nation’s Commercial nrve centre, recently. The theme of the Bank’s this yrar’s SME’s Round table is: Enhancing the Capabilities of the SMEs across Africa.
The Bank, may have taken the bold initiative to support the African SMEs, because, the world-over, it plays key role in national economic growth and job creations. Kumapayi, the Access Bank, Executive Director, major worry was that in spite of the fact that the African Continent has a total population of about 1.4 billion people, which was about 17% of the world population, it has a Gross Domestic Product, GDP, of 2.5, which was not encouraging.
The Access Bank, Executive Director, who could not hide his feelings had said that the African GDP, could be that low because the SMEs are not producing enough products for local consumption, let alone for export, thus making the African Continent to be import dependent. He asserted that as long as the African SMEs are still ver muchunder developed, ‘’there may not be much improvement in their contribution to the growth of the Continental’s GDP’’
He had aid that the African SMEs may not have been fully developed because the Continent is faced with three major problems that are interwoven to the SMEs access to finance, affordability and the capacity to manage businesses themselves’’. This may informed why the ban has promised that it will do everything within its powers to fix the African problems in the next five years. Kumapayi, had said that the Bank will support at least, 10 million SMEs, cross the African Continent within the five years period.
Although, Access bank, had identified three major problems as militattating SMEs, growth , in the Continent, UBA plc, had identified other problems ranging from lack of awareness, among employees about the importance of sustainability, lack of awareness of business owners of the benefits of sustainability practices, no available access to affordable financial resources, inadequate and insufficient skills and management development practices, lack of information on how to implement sustainability and the interference intended sustainability initiatives with other business initiatives.
There is no gain saying the fact if the African SMEs will be developed,’’ it has the potential to become the mainstay of the local economy and global sustainability and the emerging opportunities relevance to them.
While, the UBA,plc, has established presence in over 20 African countries, to facilitate its operations in the African Continent, Access bank, plc, on its part, could only boast of having offshore branches in 14 African countries. Given UBA plc presence in over 20 African countries, Europe and the US, the Bank , which had recently released its interim consolidated and separate financial Statements for the third quarter of 2022, shows that the net interest income , had risen by 22.3% from N229.265 billion to N282.513 billion, which has given an insight why the bank could support the SMEs, and the young and women Entrepreneurs, without shaking.
Mrs.Ayodele Oldeje, Access bank’s Group Head, Emerging Business Africa, had said that’’ its support to the SMEs would transform the Continent’’. She was emphatic that Africa’s contributions to the world GDP, which is very low had been the main reason why the SMEs, are still ‘’struggling to survive’’. She had told participants at the Bank’s SMEs Round table, that ‘’the game changer for their survival remains building their capability beyond access to finance’’.
As a prelude to supporting the SMEs, in Nigeria and other African countries, she had revealed that Access bank at present ‘’don’t just give SMEs ,the platform, to access to finance, but help them in other areas of need that will assist them to open up their businesses to market opportunities and then go into services that they will be able to access’’.
Mrs.Olojede, may have shocked Participants at the Bank two-day SMEs Round table when he disclosed that most of the African SMEs, ‘’spend over 70% of their time and resources on activities that do not add up to their bottom- line, which clearly shows that ‘’there is no way they will be able to scale up as long as they continue to focus on such activities’’.
This may have encouraged the bank to create a platform which the SMEs could easily access ‘’to improve on their services’’ , stating that ‘’this will go a long way to crash the 70%of their time and resources spent on unnecessary activities that do not add up to bottom- line to 30%.
He had told those that cares to listen that if the SMEs, could spend only 30% of their time and resources on activities that add up to their bottom line, they would be able to use the remaining 70% wisely to scale up, which he had described as the ‘’game changer’’.
