The Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM’s) Financial Inclusion and Entrepreneurship Scaling (Fines) project has affirmed its commitment to supporting growth and development of local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country.
The five-year project, supported by the World Bank, is valued at $86 million (about K87 billion) and aimed at increasing access to finance, promoting entrepreneurship and capacitating SMEs in the country.
It is being implemented at a time when the majority of SMEs face hurdles to access finance due to low literacy levels, among other things.
But speaking recently during a consultative workshop, Fines Project Manager Mark Lungu said lack of information is one of the key hindrances for SMEs to access loan facilities.
“We discussed with Fines stakeholders some of the emerging issues currently affecting the micro, small and medium Enterprises in Malawi (MSMEs) and came up with core messages that are relevant, timely, consistent and tailor-made to the information needs of this sector,” he said.
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A recent Financial Capability and Inclusion Survey revealed a huge information gap between financial service providers and the general populace.
According to studies by RBM, low levels of financial literacy and education make it even more challenging for many Malawians to deal with formal financial service providers and utilise new technologies.
NBM Development Bank General Manager Bernard Masi said developing messages in a consultative way helps in addressing misinformation and confusion among the general public.
“We need to communicate tactfully so that we achieve our goal of increasing access to finance for MSME,” Masi said.
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As at June 2023, the Fines project has reached over 36,570 MSMEs, out of these, 26,127 are women, 5,996 are youths and 4,447 are men and a total of over K39.6 billion has been disbursed.
