Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank)
said it has gone into partnership with Agence Française de Développement (AFD)
to launch a N3 billion Ariz Portfolio Guarantee Scheme, an initiative designed
to boost financing for business start-ups and development projects in Nigeria.
The partnership with GTBank, which
according to a statement from the bank was the first in Anglophone Africa,
would support the growth of SMEs by providing a risk sharing mechanism on loan
advances.
The Ariz Portfolio Guarantee Scheme
provides banks, private equity investors and other financial institutions a
safer platform to increase participation in SME financing by providing foreign
guarantees to local credit facilities advanced to SMEs. Since its inception in
2008, the Ariz Portfolio Guarantee Scheme has expanded to over 20 francophone
countries in Africa, and has teamed up with more than 40 partner banks
worldwide. The scheme has seen a steady rise in the number and volume of
guarantees allocated (up 80% annually over the past 3 years) and an increasing
number of companies have been able to develop each year, with thousands of jobs
created.
According to the French Ambassador
to Nigeria, Ambassador Denys Gauer, “small and medium enterprises have a
key role as drivers of economic growth and employment. However, despite the
widespread presence of SMEs in Nigeria, the sector faces major obstacles such
as the limited access to bank financing, mostly because of the risk factor
associated with SMEs. The objective of this scheme is to facilitate SMEs’
access to finance by supporting the development of the GTBank portfolio of SME
loans.”
Also, speaking at the launch of the
event, the Managing Director/CEO of GTBank,Mr. Segun Agbaje, said: “Empowering
small and medium scale enterprises remains pivotal to the sustenance of growth
and development in emerging economies across the world. This sector remains
crucial to the economic make-up of Nigeria yet contributes little to our
national GDP. We are determined to help rewrite this narrative by boosting
access to long term financing for the sector.”
He further stated that, “The
partnership with AFD is the first for any Anglophone speaking country and
reaffirms the Bank’s commitment to building a strong SME sector buoyed by easy
access to long term financing. As a Bank, we will continue to provide solutions
to help smaller businesses build capacity and improve their knowledge of
managing businesses. Earlier in the year, using our SME MarketHub platform, we
organised a training program for small business owners on capacity building,
business ethics and global best practices
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