Fidelity Bank to Empower New Set of SMEs
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo, has said that the bank has plans to empower Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as part of the efforts to promote national economic growth.
Describing the SMEs as the engine to any economy, Okonkwp said the Bank will collaborate with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to make funding available for SMEs based in Nigeria.
He disclosed that the Fidelity Bank SMEs Funding Connect already has 3,000 participants, 60 providers, 60 founders, and N12 million in grant
He explained that the bank introduced an initiative tagged, ‘SME Funding Connect,’ to be able to deepen funding on the understanding that it remains the biggest problem for SMEs.
Okonkwo who spoke through the bank’s Executive Director, Lagos & Southwest, Mrs. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe:
“We have 40 million registered SMEs in Nigeria. This tells us that this is a sector we cannot ignore, and from our research we have discovered that funding is one of the biggest challenges SMEs in Nigeria face.
“We also know that they face challenges of technical know -how, hence the reason we have mentorship programmes to groom and sensitise them on how to grow a business from a small scale to a large scale and sustain it.
“We have been helping them access funds from financial institutions such as the Bank of Industry and other institutions from outside the country.
“They also face problems of multiple taxation as well as issues of infrastructure, such as inefficient electricity supply, so we intend solve the issues we are capable of solving as a bank”.
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