By Wanangwa Tembo

Kasungu, July 6, Mana: National Bank of Malawi (NBM) has said most of challenges that Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) face in the course of their businesses are a result of lacking information about opportunities available in the banking sector.

The Bank’s Head of Retail Banking Division, Oswin Kasunda said this on Saturday during an SME customer interaction session in Kasungu.

He said SMEs are the drivers of the economy contributing about 40 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) hence must be empowered with financial information that could be used to make important business decisions.

“We are excited to have come to meet one of the segments of our customers which we consider as very important because of its critical role in the economy.

“SMEs need information. They must develop keen interest to seek information which can help them make good decisions that can grow their businesses,” Kasunda said.

He said in the face of global occurrences that bring about economic shocks, businesses must be innovative enough to survive such calamities.

The Head of Retail Banking said, “We have faced natural disasters like cyclones, droughts and at some point there was COVID-19 which heavily affected our businesses and the effects are still being felt today.

“But the question is: when that happens, how do we move forward. This is where we need to be innovative enough to find solutions.”

Kasunda said SMEs must develop trust in NBM which he said has various solutions for their financing needs.

A representative of the SMEs, Chifundo Mwafulirwa, applauded NBM for the interaction saying it was an eye opener on the many opportunities available at the banks that could be exploited to grow their businesses.

“One important issue that has been raised is access to loans. We have challenges to accessing loans but through this interaction, we have learnt about the several financing options that are available for us.

“The other issue concerns forex. We fail to access forex in good time and this affects our businesses especially when we want to import something,” she said.

The interaction highlighted non-payment of loans, lack of planning and managerial experience, poor record keeping and lack of understanding financial information as some other major challenges common to most SMEs.

The session which was conducted under the theme ‘Synergy in success: building financial milestones together’, was organised to act as a feedback forum for both the Bank and the SMEs.