Access Bank has said it is investing a billion dollars to boost 10 million Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Africa over the next five years.
The Executive Director in charge of African subsidiaries, Mr. Seyi Kumapayi, said on the sidelines of a two-day SMEs Immersion Round table in Lagos with the theme “Enhancing the Capabilities of SMEs Across Africa” that Africa had about 1.4 billion people, which was about 17 per cent of the world’s population.
“However, from a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) standpoint, we only have 2.5 per cent of GDP,
According to him, Africa is not producing enough, and that the SMEs space in the continent is underdeveloped with SMEs in Africa facing three major problems that are interwoven- access to finance, affordability and the capacity to manage businesses themselves.
“And that is what we are trying to fix over the next five years. We would make an impact in about 10 million SMEs across Africa. There are 90 million SMEs across Africa,” Kamapayi said.
He said that the bank is ready to support youths and women entrepreneurs across Africa.
He disclosed that the bank has assembled an array of Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) that will help build the capacities of SMEs.
GIK/APA