As Ghana prepares to launch the Ghana EXIM Bank next week, the Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Dr. Barfuor Osei has refuted claims that the bank will compete with commercial banks in providing funds for Small and Medium Enterprises(SMEs).<\/p>\n
According to him, the EXIM Bank will rather provide soft loans for commercial banks in the country for on lending to SMEs.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Citi Business News, Dr. Barfuor was optimistic the bank will significantly boost the SME sector since it will provide credits at relatively low interest rate.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the major problems of the SME is long term fund financing, if you go to the commercial banks, they will give you a short term but most of these businesses need financing on a longer term, so all the financing that the EXIM Bank will be giving out will be going to be long term, and we are not going to compete with the commercial banks, we are going to fill those gaps that the commercial banks have left hanging,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBusinesses need support in so many different ways that the commercial banks don\u2019t offer, so the EXIM will be providing all these support. You see people go to the commercial banks and say the interest rates are so high. The reason is that some of them don\u2019t have what it takes to be able to get some. The EXIM bank will guarantee for the commercial banks so that they will b able to provide more resources for the SME,\u201d he assured.<\/p>\n
20 young entrepreneurs given loans<\/strong><\/p>\n About \u00a020 young graduate\u00a0entrepreneurs seeking funds to expand their businesses were received a total of GHC2 million.<\/p>\n The programme which was the maiden edition was organized in partnership with the University of Cape Coast (UCC), under the Graduate Enterprise Development Initiative awarded which saw the entrepreneurs receive GHC100,000 each.<\/p>\n This was after several weeks of coaching and mentorship. Twenty \u00a0finalists were chosen from a vigorous screening process of 37 applicants.<\/p>\n The finalists were taken through a\u00a0three-day training program to enhance their skills and develop their business concepts.<\/p>\n They submitted a refined business plan and upon further coaching, mentoring and pitching the 20 finalists were chosen for the awards ceremony.<\/p>\n The beneficiaries<\/strong><\/p>\n Those awarded are Juga Farms, Vegerfresh Farms Limited,\u00a0Titann\u00a0Ventures,\u00a0 Yarda Trust Company Limited, Sule Yahaya Enterprise, Modern Grasscutter Company Limited,\u00a0Nawubil\u00a0Limited, Nouveau Foods Ghana Limited, and E90 Ghana.<\/p>\n Also included are PK Farms,\u00a0Premor\u00a0Limited,\u00a0Sparkxx\u00a0Foods and Beverages Limited,\u00a0Sustanable\u00a0Agro Limited,\u00a0Isshad\u00a0Plus Enterprise,\u00a0Boasah\u00a0Agricultural Center,\u00a0Odera\u00a0Ventures and Unique Quality Product Enterprise and DelChris Ventures.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Lawrence Segbefia\/citibusinessnews.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As Ghana prepares to launch the Ghana EXIM Bank next week, the Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Dr. Barfuor Osei has refuted claims that the bank will compete with commercial banks in providing funds for Small and Medium Enterprises(SMEs). According to him, the EXIM Bank will rather provide soft loans for commercial banks in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":269855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[121,32],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n