Dr. Efua Asabea Asare, Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), has urged banks to extend flexible credit facilities to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to engender the industrial transformation the nation needs.

She explained that the credit facilities will help the SMEs to extend their reach beyond their traditional markets with the advent of AfCFTA opportunities. “GEPA and the actors in the export space would provide the necessary institutional support to ensure a successful partnership,” she said.

Dr. Asare said this in an address read on her behalf at GEPA’s SMEs and Banking Forum in Takoradi on the theme ‘Financial Resource Mobilisation: a Key Factor in SME Growth’.

The forum served as a platform for the banks and the numerous SMEs to interact and find common grounds for business engagement.

“Although it is empirically proven that loans to MSMEs constitute the riskiest of any bank’s investment portfolios, the incalculable benefits derived from a resilient and buoyant SME sector cannot be underplayed, especially in times of economic stagnation,” she said.

Therefore, she said GEPA is ready to work with the banks to ensure a win-win engagement between the banks and the SMEs.

Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, Western Regional Minister, encouraged businesses to let their product and services meet the expectation of customers and not just for profit.

“Come out with innovations that will make your product or service distinct from others and do your marketing very well to generate cash flow. This will enable you receive business loans from the bank,” he said.

He urged them to look at new partnership arrangement among themselves and core out grower scheme in the fashion, manufacturing, construction sub-sector to position their industries to qualify and gain financial support for their companies in the region.