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(BOTSWANA MSTRY OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY) Bank marks SME month

Bank marks SME month
Written by Administrator
Friday, 05 September 2008

GABORONE - The Small Medium Enterprises (SME) sector plays a dominant role in Africa hence Standard Chartered Bank has marked September as Africa SME month in its African markets.

Speaking during a media briefing, Head of Consumer Banking Mr Michael Wiegand said SME had been identified as a mechanism of economic growth, adding that it contributes 30 to 40 per cent to the GDP.

For this reason, government’s major focus was to grow and create employment hence Standard Chartered offered services that compliment government’s initiatives.

About the Africa SME Month, he said it was “an exciting initiative that will focus the attention of the bank on our SME customers as we continue to enhance our products and service to these customers to further assist their growing businesses.”

He said the bank’s success had been achieved through rigorously pursuing its strategy of launching new, innovative and increasingly sophisticated products and services, including SME International Trade Account and Express Credit.

Mr Wiegand said the launch of the Africa SME month presented an opportunity to interact with their customers and celebrate the bank’s success as well as those of their customers.

The month had been divided into four themes with each week focusing on one theme.
He said the theme of the first week was business and product awareness, through which they were launching an SME current account promotion to give their customers an increased incentive to save.

Through the promotion, a Toyota Dyna 1.5 ton truck could be won by customers who maintain a minimum balance of P50 000 in their accounts.

There would also be additional monthly prizes and customers would earn additional chances to win. “The second week will focus on understanding our customer’s need and then offering them the relevant products from the bank’s suite of products,” he said.

He said they would be conducting internal workshops to raise awareness of the needs of their customers and the products and services the bank offers.

During the third week, the bank would be facilitating international partnerships for their customers.

As part of the week, Standard Chartered will be conducting a trade workshop for its customers to help them understand and overcome the challenges of international trade, including both regulatory and financial issues.

“We can leverage the expertise and relationships that we have built in operating in more than 70 countries around the world,” Mr Wiegand said.

As for the SME Trade Corridor Initiative, he said it enabled customers to open accounts in multiple countries away from their home market and manage all of their accounts through a single internet banking platform.

The final theme centres around HIV/AIDS and Mr Wiegand said the bank would launch the SME Workplace HIV programme aimed at empowering SMEs with the necessary skills to handle HIV/AIDS matters in the workplace as well as facilitate dialogue between business owners, their employees and the support operations.

A workshop through which the bank will share ideas on how SMEs can address the important issue of HIV/AIDS in their workplaces will also be held. BOPA

Labels: SMEs, STANCHART

posted by MrK @ 6:23 AM