Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG), in partnership with KPMG Ghana and Trust Consult Ltd. has organized a free book-keeping sessionto help Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) get reliable measure of their performance.
The programme, the third of its type under the CBG SME training, forms part of the bank’s Adesua Series and was held under the theme: Book-Keeping for Business Growth, aimed at empowering SMEs through insightful activities that will enable them to thrive beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
Commenting on the event, Director of Retail and Business at CBG, Emmanuel Nikoi said the bank is committed to the growth of MSMEs in Ghana.
“We have created a whole unit that looks at the micro business and have realized that book-keeping is a challenge in the MSME sector and hence this program. Proper records keeping is critical to the growth of every business as it helps with accurate budgeting and easy identification of business targets. Thus, it is important to keep track of where every amount— delivery cost, accommodation cost, staff cost, stock keeping, accounts, and others—is going;”, he added.
Speaking on the SME products and services of the bank, Head of SME Business at CBG, Mrs. Rita Ankra Badu, said the bank has unsecured term loans for Traders, Importers, Retailers, and distributors.
“At CBG, we offer unsecured term loans for our SME clients; all you need to do is to have an account with CBG for 6 months or more. We have the Export Finance Solutions – a facility that supports agri-business export customers with export loan facility of 70% (capped @ USD100, 000.00, cedi equivalent) of total cost for the export base on sales and purchase contract or discount export receivables from a corporate entity abroad. We also have Key Distributorship Scheme which offers our customer in the Wholesaling and Distributorship space overdraft and guarantee to support their business. Then, LPO financing facility, Certificate discounting facility, Vehicle and Asset Financing Facility, and more”.
On his part, the owner of Material Enterprise Alhaji Saani, commended CBG for the programme. “When CBG came to being, I had uncertainties to continue banking with them, but so far, they have really helped me with savings and acquiring loans. I want to commend them for this programme. I am very happy I came because personally, I do not take records consistently. I have learnt a lot from this programme”.
The major concern of Micro, Small and Medium businesses in Ghana has been access to finance. CBG has tailored products and services for the SME businesses to ensure they grow from one segment to the next level—micro, small and medium. The bank since inception, understands the dynamic role of small and medium scale enterprises(SMEs) in Ghana thoroughly. These SMEs have been identified as the means through which the rapid industrialization and other developmental goals of Ghana can be realized.
