Be strategic to attract loans – Yofi Grant to MSMEs

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Yofi Grant, is admonishing Micro, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSMEs) to make themselves attractive to have easier access to funds.

“There are a lot of things happening in Ghana today that are global standards, but they’ve run short because of maybe packaging or the ability to market it. Sometimes, it’s not the money that will make a company rise up. It’s clarity, good governance and making sure you have your focus on your product,” he said on Monday’s edition of the Citi Business Festival.

In Ghana, small businesses are major sources of employment, income and personal development for the rural and urban folks.

It is estimated that about three quarters of the Ghanaian population derive their livelihood from this sector.

Although they contribute vastly to the Ghanaian economy, one of the major setbacks of the MSME sector is the lack of access to cheaper credit for production.

This is due to the financial institutions’ fear that these small businesses will not be able to pay back monies loaned to them.

But Yofi Grant opines that the businesses have a huge role to play in staying attractive to allow for easier access to finance.

Speaking to Citi TV’s Bernard Avle on the Citi Business Festival, he tasked MSMEs to be strategic in their business activities to enable them secure loans from institutions.

“First of all, the banks do not have enough capital to risk certain businesses. Statistics say that globally, out of every 100 new businesses, only 10 survive. 90 percent fail for various reasons. But if you [the MSME] is able to demonstrate to a bank that ‘if you give me $10,000, I can give you a global quality product. I know where my market is, and they’re ready to buy’, the bank would chase you because they know their cash flow is guaranteed. They know that there’s a market waiting to buy your products, and they’ll get paid.”

He further highlighted the importance of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, in pushing small businesses in the country.

“AfCFTA gives us the opportunity to think big because one of the things I’ve noticed is that a lot of our businesses don’t think big. They are satisfied with small because they think that the risks of going big are high. But the opportunity is there. That is why I said we need to create a culture of business, and we need to start from our schools,” he noted.

The second week of the Citi Business Festival seeks to create a national dialogue on what goes into doing business in Ghana.

Source: Citi Business News