Barclays ups efforts to transform SMEs
Patricia Edwin | Monday July 7, 2014 07:00
Speaking at the launch of the bank’s Small & Micro Enterprises (SMEs) Business Segment in the northern region in Francistown last week, she said that the new proposition is a transformation of the local business offering, which has now been broadened following extensive customer feedback.
“It further aligns the bank to government initiatives on economic diversification, creation of sustainable enterprises and employment creation,” she said.
She said that she has noted Botswana government’s resilience in the fight against poverty as well as the fostering of sustainable growth of the small enterprises.
Van der Merwe said that she believed that the product (SME Business Segment) would contribute significantly to the strengthening of the competitiveness of SMEs in this country thereby facilitating quality services and products.
“Barclays Bank is committed to helping Batswana achieve their ambitions in the right way,” she added. Van der Merwe further stated that they do not want to be viewed as a bank or a financial institution but mostly as a solution provider to Batswana.
“Under our corporate business where the SMEs sit, we have set ourselves priorities, chief amongst those being our desire to help our customers to create long lasting wealth,” said the managing director.
She further elaborated that though lack of funds has always been a problem to SME growth, even where funds are available, they are instances where such funds are not used for the specific intention.
“This tells me that we may not need just the funds, but also to provide the financial literacy and Entrepreneual coaching to beneficiaries of our funding.
“The Enterprise Banking Customer Value proposition that we are launching will cover clients in two categories. Small businesses will be for those customers whose annual turn-over is up to P10 million while the medium businesses will be for those customers whose turn-over is in the range of P10 million to P25 million,’ she said.
She said Barclays Bank has both the expertise and the branch network which will enable these businesses to be ably served by the bank, no matter where they are or how far they are from cities and towns.