Monrovia – The Managing Director of Bloom Bank Liberia Olalekan Balogun has disclosed that his entity is going to partner with any organization that is upskilling Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to enhance access to finance. By J.H.
Webster Clayeh (0886729972)- [email protected] He made the statement at the Launch of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Growth Accelerator Liberia 4th Cohort of the Micro-Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) at the Ministry of Commerce & Industry in Congo town. According to the Managing Director of Bloom Bank Liberia, there are lots of opportunities in Liberia for the SMEs space. He added that the SME space in Liberia is still a virgin with rich opportunities.
Mr. Balogun disclosed that almost 90 percent of every business in the economy is SMEs. With the largest employment, he stressed that a lot of international organizations are willing to invest in SMEs but noted that SMEs require a platform and skills to access the needed finance.
“Financial inclusion is at the nicest stage in Liberia. What we are going to do differently is, apart from just having a bank account for SMEs, we believe that there are three particular things that the SME needs to do and one of them is upskilling,” he said. Mr.
Balogun added: “Providing those skills and knowledge for them to move to the next level. Also, to be leveraging digitalization. A lot of SMEs are still operating at the elementary level.
I believe that we upskill through digit.