Small and Medium Enter
prises (SMEs) across the country have been tasked to intensify efforts to access bank loans and finance to boost their business initiative.
Speaking to newsmen in Lagos last Monday, a director of Heritage Bank, Mr Tony Madojemu, said that access to finance is one of the major challenges of SMEs today, stressing that small businessmen should brace up their competence if they must access loans from the banks.
Madojemu said most Small and Medium Enterprises are guilty of poor accounts presentation, lack of business plans, legal backing and fracture, adding that such businesses should not expect to get loans from banks.
He urged small businesses to effectively manage their systematic and operational risks well with a view to keeping a well structured business that would attract bank lending to finance such businesses for profitability.
The bank’s Director said SMEs and the retail sectors are more disposed to getting banking loans in Nigeria now compared to previous years, stressing that the focus of most Nigerian banks is now shifting to Small and Medium Enterprises and retail sector.
He said the retail sector was loaning and some of the big firms are beginning to dictate unnecessarily to the banks, making most banks’ attention to shift to the SMEs and the retail sector.
He stressed that banks are beginning to seek new opportunities to increase profitability and guard against collapse by seeking ways to deal with only well structured SMEs in the country.
He said the banking sector would favour some small businesses to boost their survival and stabilise their structure for profitability.
Meanwhile, Buiness Network International (BNI) National Director, Mr Chimaobi James-Agwu, has said that small businesses have become the lifeline of many economies in the world.
He stated this at this year’s Business Network International week held in Lagos recently.
He said small business owners do not often have the resources they need to move their businesses forward, stressing that they need to network among themselves to secure finance to move their business forward as the sum of the whole becomes greater than the individual parts.
He also said International Networking is a collaborative efforts of small businesses to achieve growth and success through effective networking.
He said small businesses are the engines that drive many of the economies around the world, unfortunately small businesses do not have the resources of large organisations, stressing that well designs collaboration based on an effective system and strategy can lead to small business success.