10 Nov 2017

Nearly 90 per cent of all registered businesses are Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs), and they employ over 300 000 people both formally and informally, says Barclays Bank Botswana managing director, Ms  Reinette Van Der Merwe. 

Speaking at the launch of the Enterprise and Supply Chain Development (ESD) programme, Ms Van Der Merwe said the programme would focus on capacity building and link SME’s with the corporate value chain hence creating access to finance.

She added that they would also use the corporate value chain procurement strength to provide access to markets through the “purchase order finance closed loop model.”

“The ESD programme focuses on our SMEs. We believe that we are in a unique position to serve SMEs by using our core assets and strategic positioning and influence,” she said.

She said research had also shown that 90 per cent of start-up businesses failed in their first five years of operation owing to many challenges.

“Some of these challenges are lack of financial management, record keeping, lack of proper management, poor product quality and lack of access to finance,” she said.

She said the success of the programme depended on the bank, the bank’s clients and all interested stakeholders.

“It gives me pleasure that in this project that we are undertaking, we engage our stakeholders to collaborate with us to make the project a success as developing the sector is a national agenda that involves all parties,” said Ms Van Der Merwe.

She also noted that it was one of the many initiatives that they continued to develop, proving their commitment to Botswana and Africa as they journeyed into the next phase of being a Pan African bank.

“We are in a unique position to serve SMEs by using our core skills and strategic positioning and influence. Being ingrained in the community we believe that as we grow as a business, those around us would also grow and prosper. These include, but are not limited to our colleagues and valued clients,” she said.

She added that what it basically meant was that corporates which did business with Barclays Bank Botswana had the potential to connect and help the bank grow the SMEs sector that the corporates would or were doing business with in procuring products and services, hence the supply chain development.

She said it could also translate into new markets being explored as big corporates would refrain from importing goods/services and enable SMEs to go into business, adding that it would all be possible because of the ESD by Barclays Bank Botswana.

The ESD programme would focus on capacity building and strengthening both the horizontal and vertical linkages between SMEs and the respective corporate value chains. ENDS