Mr Yakubu Mutawakil, Credit Officer of Borimang Rural Bank, has advised Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to register their organizations to enable them to access funds to sustain their businesses.

He said financial institutions especially the rural banks had soft loans but one of the major conditions required to cross the first step of sourcing loans was business registration.

Mr Mutawakil said this at a district consultative meeting held at Savelugu in the Savelugu/Nanton Municipality for operators of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to deliberate on issues affecting their businesses and find ways to mitigate and convert them into opportunities.

The participants included carpenters, soap producers, poultry and guinea fowl farmers, and processors in agro-industrial businesses.

They identified business registration, unavailability of financial support to local SMEs and lack of associations as some of the issues affecting their operations.

Mr Mutawakil urged the SME owners to cultivate the habit of keeping proper records of their activities, which was also a requirement to secure funds.

Mr Huss Adam, Northern Regional Director of Cooperative Unions, called on all small-scale entrepreneurs to join the union to help streamline their activities, which according to him would also allow them to access credit facilities with less difficulty.

He said the union, which was open to all, aimed to facilitate an enabling environment to provide quality financial and technical services to members.

Mr Saeed Momen, President of the Association of Small Scale Industries (ASSI) said the Association had for the past year received support from government and other agencies for business expansion.

Mr Momen expressed worry about the high interest rates charged by banking institutions, saying the situation had over the years led to the collapse of many small-scale industries.

He appealed to members to be receptive to new ideas in coming out with innovative products to meet the market demands.

Mr Momen also appealed to the decentralized assemblies to support small-scale industries in organizing business fairs in their areas to market their products.