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Start me up

6 May 2008

Commonwealth workshop examines ways of improving how micro, small and medium enterprises are funded

Stumping up the cash to start a business is one of the toughest challenges facing many entrepreneurs across the world.

This concern was recently reviewed at a Commonwealth workshop that looked at ways of improving access to finances for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

“Increasing the amount of funding available for small businesses would not only encourage start-ups, but would also help alleviate poverty by creating more jobs and bolstering a country’s economy,” said Roland Charles, an Enterprise Development Adviser at the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Most of the 28 participants - from 19 Commonwealth countries - are directly involved in financing SMEs. At the workshop they raised some of the main issues inhibiting many start-ups from sustained success.

“Many Commonwealth countries are confronting similar issues and choices: from how to get credit flowing more readily to where it can boost growth,” observed Mr Charles.

Representatives from three leading Asian commercial banks – OCBC, Hong Leong Finance and the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) – shared their strategies for funding these businesses and also emphasised the need for entrepreneurs to become financially literate, arguing this was as important as understanding their market and customers.

The workshop, held in Singapore between 16 and 22 April 2008, explored Singapore’s well developed finance services sector, which has a number of competitive lending programmes on offer from banks and state-run organisations. Participants – who all presented the state of access to finance for SMEs in their respective countries – were then taken through the various financing options available to these businesses from the time they start-up to the point when they are well established.

Having been exposed to new strategies which fuel successful businesses, the participants returned to their respective countries to impart these ideas that emerged from the event and adapt them into workable plans suitable for their own economies. They also returned home having increased their network of contacts with like-minded practitioners from across the Commonwealth.

“As representatives from [19] countries, we should bear in mind that developing networks among ourselves can have a positive impact on our countries’ international relations,” said Denis Mitchell, Programme and Outreach Co-ordinator at the National Entrepreneurship Development Company in Trinidad and Tobago.