Create afforable platforms for SMEs — Participants
Participants in a Zenith Bank workshop for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have called for more affordable platforms onto which SMEs can register and sell their products.
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The participants, mainly entrepreneurs, founders and owners of SMEs, said the cost of registering and selling on certain platforms to showcase their products was exorbitant, making it difficult for them to register and get the needed exposure.
They, therefore, called on stakeholders to consider that challenge and create platforms with moderate rates that would help them sell their products and services.
“Stakeholders should try and come up with packages that will be very convenient for us because some of the rates are quite high for SMEs,” the Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Clothing, John Jaoudeh, said.
The Founder of Delse Shop, Selassie Dzikunu, said although workshops, such as the Zenith Bank workshop for SMEs, were good initiatives for entrepreneurs to learn about how to get exposure on the global market, there was the need for stakeholders to also come on board and give the needed support that would help small businesses in the country thrive.
While calling for support, she urged her fellow entrepreneurs to register their businesses with the right agencies, so that they could gain the support that those agencies offered.
She added that more workshops, such as the Zenith-Alibaba workshop, be organised for SMEs to learn and improve their trade.
Workshop
The Zenith Bank workshop, held in Accra last week, was to provide coaching for and equip SMEs with the needed resources for them to launch their businesses on an e-commerce online platform, known as Alibaba.com.
Organised in partnership with the World Trade Centre, Accra, and Alibaba.com, the masterclass was also to impart new sellers with the basic knowledge needed to sell on the platform and expose local sellers to the global market.
The three-day workshop, dubbed: ‘The Alibaba Global Seller Training E-Course Masterclass’, was held on February 23 and March 2, with the closing ceremony held on March 9, 2023.
Competencies
The Head of Retail Banking at Zenith Bank, Gloria Cabutey-Adodoadji, said individually, SMEs needed to put their house in order by developing their technical competencies, having proper information and bookkeeping skills and also improving their managerial and marketing skills.
"Develop workable business plans and strategies that encompass short, medium, as well as long term, plans," she said.
She also urged SMEs to come together as one voice or form an association to lobby the government for proper infrastructure, financial assistance and grants and the creation of technical and advisory support centres which would help their businesses grow.
Mrs Cabutey-Adodoadji also said the bank had a wide range of services that would help and support entrepreneurs and SMEs to grow their businesses and urged all participants to register with the bank and gain the offers and services in stock for SMEs.
