Bank policies hindering SMEs’ growth in Kwara – KWACCIMA
By Mike Adeyemi
The growth of Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in kwara has been said to be undermined by undue policies by banks.
The new President of Kwara Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mine And Agriculture, Olalekan Fatai stated this while fielding questions from our reporter on Friday.
According to him, “Banks need to give small and medium enterprise in the state a special consideration for funds.
“We are planning to talk to some banks to improve our SMEs in Kwara. We want to ensure they change their policies to favour SMEs,” Ayodimeji said.
He added that the performance of Small and Medium sized Enterprises has improved overtime in the state.
“In Kwara State, we have more SMEs than companies. So basically I can say we are at the SMEs level in the state.
“At KWACCIMA, it is SMEs that we are assisting and that is why we want to bring in more investors to boost SMEs in Kwara. Beyond that the chamber also wants to do more for them. It may involves restructuring or some arrangement, but we will get there.
“At the SMEs level, we are looking at areas that are congested for businesses which we asked government to assist them. During the Endsars protest, government came to aid of affected businesses which was part of our synergy with the government,” the KWACIMA boss stressed.
He however said the emergence of COVID-19 has led to suspension of the chamber’s annual trade fair , but promised that another one would come up at the end of the year.
“We are planning the Kwara Trade Fair for November. We have to carry the government, the stakeholders along. We want people from outside to come to Kwara and invest,” he added.
