Presidential Staffer of the Black Star Experience, Rex Omar, has emphasised the need for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to have access to loans with more favorable terms than those currently available on the open market.

According to him, concessionary loans often offer longer repayment periods, lower interest rates, and other benefits specifically designed to assist borrowers.

In an exclusive interview with GhanaWeb's Sisl Prempeh at the Kwahu Business Forum over the weekend, Rex Omar explained that such financial support would enable SMEs to increase production for export.

"If I say soft loans, I don’t mean highly commercialised loans with 30% interest rates. SMEs need long-term concessionary loans so they can produce more and export. But the reality is that if the government doesn’t step in to support them, many young entrepreneurs in these sectors will struggle because their businesses are SMEs," he said.

He urged financial institutions to support new businesses so they can grow, rather than denying them the loans they need to start and expand operations.

"To bankers, ‘Greenfield’ means a new idea, a company that hasn’t yet operated in an established industry, which makes them reluctant to engage. But the question is, if nobody starts a Greenfield business, how will any company grow? Every successful company you're dealing with today started somewhere. These are the issues financial institutions must consider, and these are the restrictive mindsets they need to eliminate if we truly want to develop," Rex Omar stated.



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