Even as sections of the small business community continue to pronounce on challenges associated with accessing commercial bank loans, Republic Bank says it continues to offer “a comprehensive range of corporate, commercial and retail banking services” to meet the business and personal financial needs of small and medium enterprises.
“Building capacity among Small Businesses (SMEs) is an integral component of Republic Bank’s community commitment,” the bank says in a document released to the Stabroek Business recently.
The bank says that in addition to the financial support which it offers to (SMEs) it has also sought “to deepen engagements, educate, inform and empower the various sub-segments” in an effort to paint a bright future for SMEs and for the local and regional economies. The bank notes that over the past 18 months it has hosted a series of business training programmes in collaboration with the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, University of the West Indies; Empretec; the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC); the Institute of Private Enterprise Development (IPED); the International Finance Corporation (IFC); and KPMG. “In total, over three hundred SMEs benefited from various seminars which touched on topics geared towards the development of the respective groups, including Empowerment for Women Through Economic Self-sufficiency; Understanding the Business Environment; Business Strategy; Marketing in the New Millennium; Financial Management; Succession Planning; Strategy; Family Business Succession Planning; and Export Management,” the document says.
Additionally, the bank says that an ongoing support initiative, SME Toolkit Caribbean, is available online as a free business development tool through its partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The bank’s statement quotes its Managing Director John Alves as saying that the institution is embracing its role “to support our nation’s small to medium enterprise segment… SMEs are a country’s national asset – the wheels that assure employment and keep the wheels of the economy turning,” Alves is quoted as saying.
The growth of the local small business sector has given rise to significantly increased demand for financing and other forms of business-related support and local business organizations including the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) have been issuing calls for the creation of a state-funded development bank to provide a more accessible window for lending to SMEs.
