Malawi Stock Exchange-listed NBS Bank has disclosed that it has offered K40 billion in guarantees and loans to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) this year as strategic components of the economy.
The Bank’s Chief Wholesale Banking Officer Alfred Nhlema said this on Friday when he opened an SMEs clinic for Lilongwe entrepreneurs to interact and share notes about their business journey.
“In the same spirit of ‘I care’, at NBS Bank plc we have chosen to side with the many. This year we have offered over K40 billion in guarantees and loans to SMEs who account for 40 percent of the GDP of Malawi and 24 percent of the workforce. These are not mere statistics that is why at NBS Bank we take SMEs seriously,”
“One of the key products that we want these SMEs to benefit from is the ‘Zayera’ loan which is subsidized at nine percent,” said Nhlema.
The clinic was led by Sycamore Consult Limited Managing Director, Audrey Mwala as the guest speaker.
In her presentations, Mwala said lack of financial knowledge is one of the factors hindering SMEs from growing.
“So, the SMEs here have been challenged to know that they are an important player in the sector, they are contributing to 40 percent of our GDP and we need to embrace and help them grow.”
“There is a mentality in the minds of SMEs that I will be small, but we expect that through the credit facilities coming from NBS Bank plc, they should use that as an advantage to scale up. Scaling up and growth will not happen fast with internal resources, you are supposed to leverage and use external resources like loans to help you grow,” said Mwala.
One of the Bank’s loan beneficiaries, Sphiwe Msiska of MCM Investments hailed NBS Bank plc for financial advice that has helped in her cooking oil manufacturing and construction business.
“NBS Bank plc helped us on how best to register collateral, valuation, and access a loan facility. By the end of the day, we have benefitted more,” said Msiska.
