Bank Windhoek is committed to the country’s economic growth and is proactively engaging small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through information sharing sessions to spur this growth.
This was said by the manager of emerging SMEs, Jenevieve Swartz, during the bank’s SME information session in Windhoek on Friday.
“This was a follow-up to the first micro-small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) finance symposium held in Windhoek on 21 April,” said the bank in a statement.
It was a collaboration with Bank Windhoek and the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB), the statement added.
More than 20 registered entrepreneurs who have been actively operating businesses for at least six months attended the session. They represented various sectors: education, beauty, retail, renewable energy, and telecommunications.
Swartz said the sessions aim to engage with the SMEs to better understand the challenges they face and how the bank could assist in addressing these challenges.
Representatives of the Business and Intellectual Property Authority (Bipa) also attended the session and explained the functions of Bipa, including the processes and requirements for registering various entities.
Bipa marketing manager Shariva Zender expressed delight at having the opportunity to empower the MSMEs with information to succeed.
The Bank Windhoek team detailed various products available to SMEs and highlighted the bank’s lending criteria.
“As connectors of positive change, we want to journey with each SME that has a relationship with the bank. The goal is to get them to a point where they can access the bank’s lending products, enabling them to grow their businesses sustainably,” said Swartz.
Two SMEs, Nel’s Babies and Kiddies, and Ilotu Investments, shared the challenges and successes they encountered.
They encouraged fellow SMEs to persevere, even with limited resources.
“It was important for us to convey the message that the SMEs should realise that there is great power in starting small, with the resources that they have available,” said Swartz, who added that the next SME information session will be on 26 and 27 July, at Oshakati and Ondangwa, respectively. – email: matthew@namibian.com.na
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