Despite the previous year being a tumultuous year, Ecobank
Group beat other banks in the category to take home the SME Award of the year.
Ecobank Group Executive, Commercial Banking, Josephine
Ankomah, said, “2020 was a year of unprecedented challenges on account of the
Covid-19 pandemic. It required resilience and innovation. We needed to rethink
our business and provide innovative ways to assist our SME customers to help
them to survive the difficulties brought about by the pandemic. We are truly
honoured to receive this recognition. Our immense gratitude goes to our staff,
customers and partners who have made this possible.”
Some of the measures taken by the bank to support SMEs in
2020 include:
Proactively instituting mitigating actions, including tenor
extensions and moratoriums on interest, to assist SMEs to manage their loan
repayments;
Increasing the utilisation of digital channels, such as
Ecobank Omni Lite, to provide clients with capabilities to make payments
remotely and conveniently;
Upskilling staff to ensure their capacity to help develop
the SME sector;
Collaborating with existing risk-sharing partners,
particularly Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), to share a portion of the
risk associated with our lending to the SME sector;
Partnering with tech giant Google to provide SME customers
with the means to develop a free online presence through the Google My Business
platform;
Collaborating with the African Union’s Development Agency -
AUDA-NEPAD - to focus on strengthening Africa’s support for micro, small and
medium enterprises (MSMEs) and assist their recovery from the impact of the
pandemic by empowering MSMEs with access to capabilities, markets and finance,
so that they can play a pivotal role in restarting Africa’s economies;
Launch of ‘Ellevate by Ecobank’, which is a women-owned and
women-focused product offering women an end-to-end partnership, through which
they gain access to both financial and non-financial services such as financial
education, product information, networking and recognition.
The African SME Bank of the Year Award acknowledges the bank
that has contributed significantly to the development of the SME sector.
Part of the entry criteria required that the winning bank
has significantly funded the private sector in Africa and promoted enterprise
development by facilitating credit and access to finance for SMEs.
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