Awards for Excellence 2019
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According to the World Bank, small and medium-sized enterprises account for approximately 95% of all registered firms in Africa – financing them is essential to regional growth.
In Kenya, SMEs have been hit hard by the interest-rate cap set at four percentage points above the central bank rate. Rather than take the risk and lend at lower than palatable interest rates, banks cut lending to smaller businesses, preferring to stick to larger corporates with stronger track records.
The cap was lifted recently, but the damage has been done: in Kenya, the cap is estimated to have cut GDP growth by 0.4%.
The fact that Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), led by chief executive Joshua Oigara, continued to lend to SMEs in this environment and support a number of initiatives to deepen lending to the sector makes it Africa’s best bank for SMEs this year.
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Joshua Oigara |
In 2018, the bank disbursed a total of $178 million in funding to local SMEs and $39 million to micro SMEs. KCB has committed to lend $500 million to SMEs over the next five years.
For the bank, non-performing loans remained lower than the industry average despite the economic headwinds, and the stock of all NPLs declined by $47 million, improving the bank’s ratio to 6.9% from 8.5% in 2017. The industry average is 12%.
The bank has come up with products to help small businesses keep trading when cash flow may be a problem. For example, KCB rolled out an overdraft facility for traders called Jaza Duka – ‘fill the shop’ in Swahili.
So far, 30,000 shopkeepers have signed up to Jaza Duka, which allows them to stock goods on credit from the bank based on a credit score derived from inventory turnover. The Biashara Club, which provides advisory services to SMEs and entrepreneurs, complements the overdraft facility.
