Banks are not supporting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) enough because of the high risk involved in such businesses, says Funwa Akinmade, head, retail liabilities, Union Bank Plc.
Akinwade, in his presentation at the Aba edition of Market Access for Small and Medium Enterprises, a workshop organised by BusinessDay in conjunction with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN),on Monday, revealed that commercial banks were very wary of lending to start-up businesses.
He advised those interested in starting their own businesses to start small with their own money, register their business and maintain an account with a commercial bank to attract funding.
According to him, commercial banks stopped lending to SMEs because they lost so much money lending to the sub-sector.
He commended BusinessDay and SMEDAN for organising the workshop, which he observed would improve business activities in the country.
To improve business activities, he suggested that electricity infrastructure should be improved upon to reduce cost of production and improve production capacity.
“As a start-up business, you cannot get funding. Nobody starts a business with a loan, because the interest on that would eat into the profit of the business,” he affirmed.
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Amadi Iheukwumere, manager, conferences, BusinessDay, explained that the forum was created to expose MSMEs across the country to trainings, products and services that would support the growth of their businesses at reasonably affordable costs.
“As an engine of economic growth, the government of today recognises the importance of MSMEs and that is why it created Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria to help small businesses to grow.
According to him, when small businesses grow, they create employment and that is why BusinessDay would continue to partner responsible organisations to support the MSME subsector to grow.
Participants were taken through topics covering information technology application, market orientation, sales, marketing, book keeping, human resources administration and management, financing and contract tendering administration.
