By Lumbiwe Mwanza
SMALL and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) should only get loans they can afford to manage within their business undertakings and not something they cannot afford, AB Bank project and technical officer Richard Tembo has said.
Mr. Tembo told The Scoop that AB Bank is focused at bridging the gap on limited access to finance among the SMEs through provision of Agri business loans among others.
He said that the bank in partnership with the USAID had embarked on a USAID EDGE project to build SME capacity building in Agri business engagement and that this program would also offer technical skills, financial opportunities among other financial inclusive activities.
He said that the bank is striving to bridge the financial gap among the SMEs through provision of loans while reducing collateral requirements which many times limit SMEs from accessing loans.
“As a bank, we offer different types of loans for the Agro SMEs and other SME players involved in other sectors. What is needed is for the SMEs to seek for more information on how their needs could be met by the bank.
“The other thing is that SMEs should ensure that they borrow amounts of money that they can afford to pay back and the amounts which are within their business undertaking. A loan should be used for intended purposes and it should not be shared with others for any other reason because that results in difficulties in serving it,” Mr. Tembo said.