Nana Dwemoh Benneh during the panel discussion
NANA DWEMOH Benneh, CEO of UMB Ghana, has indicated that one of the most viable start-up ecosystems for the Ghanaian and African economy is the technology/fintech ecosystem.
Nana Benneh, who disclosed this during the 4th Strategic Leaders’ Summit 2022, held recently in Kampala, Uganda, said evidence from markets like Nigeria, where start-ups like OPAY and Flutterwave have raised over US$200 million in less than four years, makes the point.
The summit largely deliberated on how African start-ups and SMEs in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) era can innovate, digitalise, and transform to become global players with a specific panel discussion on how banks could help African SMEs access funding.
According to the World Bank and other think-tanks, SMEs account for over 70% of economic activity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).
“We believe banks collaborating with fintech will be beneficial to SMEs as the fintech companies are delivering innovation of financial products to the SME sector,” he said.
“Digitisation represents perhaps the biggest all-encompassing game-changer for African SMEs in a generation. We know harnessing technology allows SMEs to leapfrog, leading to economic development. We saw this happen with the Asian economies in the last century. We estimate that a similar effect can be achieved with digitisation. Digitisation is allowing African SMEs to accelerate their adoption of quality-control standards and speed up their routes-to-market. In finance, digitisation allows banks to solve challenges that hampered extending funding to SMEs, especially as regards data.
Digitisation allows us to access data that improves the credit process, for instance, allowing us to extend the right credit to customers due to an enhanced KYC regime. At UMB, for instance, we are pioneering using digital inventory systems as the basis for an inventory-backed credit line for SMEs here in Ghana.”
On the panel with Nana Dwemoh Benneh were Eric Osiakwan, Managing Partner, Chanzo Capital; Peace Ayebazibwe Kabunga, Executive Director, HFB; and others.
A business desk report