Kenya’s Co-operative Bank Targeting Local MSMEs With Tailored Financial Products
Kenyan MSMEs have cause to be optimistic as they appear to be the subject of attention from Kenya’s Co-operative Bank. The financial institution is channeling efforts towards assisting micro, small and medium enterprises in the country and to doing just that, it has launched three new financial solutions that are designed to meet some of the needs of the business customer.
Such items as free Point-of-Sale (POS) machines, M-collection, Lipa Na M-Pesa Terminals, and Co-op Kwa Jirani Agents, amongst others, are incorporated into the trio of solutions from the Co-operative Bank. The latest financial product embeds bundled current accounts with several in-built payment/collection solutions.
Users are also availed of working capital as part of the perks that come with the new financial products, as well as such benefits as overdrafts, pre-approved limits on overdrafts and loans, unsecured business loans, and e-loans.
Moses Gitau, Head of Business Banking at Co-operative Bank, pointed out that the latest products in the offing for MSMEs also allows users to access such services as letters of credit, guarantees, and pre-import financing to enhance and improve cross-border trading. Supply-chain financing, as well as customized insurance covers, are also afforded by the products, as further highlighted by the bank’s official.
Kenyan MSMEs are known to account for up to 90 percent of the country’s private sector with further statistics hinting at a significant number of Kenyans (estimated at 15 million) being employed in both the registered and unregistered businesses that make up this sector. Figures from the World Bank also project growth of around 5.5 percent in the Kenyan economy by the end of the current financial year on the backs of the improvements recorded in the country’s manufacturing and tourism sectors. These business solutions and inputs from the Kenyan Co-operative Bank can, thus, be thought of as timely.
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The Kenyan government appears to be actively working towards easing up on spending, reducing borrowing, and trimming down the current fiscal deficit, whilst exploring ways through which a conducive environment can be created to foster the actualization of the Uhuru Kenyatta-led administration’s Big Four Agenda; one that has affordable housing, food security, manufacturing, and universal healthcare as its primary targets.
In the same vein, Gitau reaffirmed the resolve of Co-operative Bank to fully comply with the stipulations of the regulatory body which specifies that a minimum of 20 percent of total bank lending is channeled to MSMEs, to foster their growth and development. According to him, the bank remains resolved in its intent to contribute its quota towards the realization of the government’s key agenda by weighing in with significant support for MSMEs, who are themselves, central and vital to the actualization of the envisaged goals of the current administration.
Image Source: Co-operative Bank via Twitter
