Fidelity Business Academy trains SMEs

A class of 25 small and medium scale entrepreneurs has passed out of the Fidelity Business Academy, a training programme instituted by the Fidelity Bank Ghana Ltd.
The academy, established in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Rainbow Consult, is aimed at building the capacity of SME customers of the Fidelity Bank through formalised training, educational seminars and networking events.

The graduates received certificates of participation after the three-day training in managerial skills, finance and marketing strategies. The session was held in Kumasi.

The Head of Commercial Banking at Fidelity Bank, Mr Julian Opuni, said the Business Academy was introduced in July, this year, in recognition of the key role SMEs played in the economic development of the country.

Mr Opuni said SMEs had enormous potential and it was, therefore, important for the bank to help them to harness their potential.

“Normally, one would think that financial support would be the key thing SMEs desired from a bank, but the clients were pleasantly surprised by Fidelity Bank's interest in helping their businesses to grow,” the head of commercial banking said.

Mr Opuni said the bank and its consulting partners had put in place a follow-up strategy to ensure that the participants practised what they had learnt.

The bank had announced it would extend the programme to the Western Region next month and subsequently to the Northern Region and other parts of the country.

Daily Graphic/Ghana