Stanbic Bank promotes Trade & investment through opening markets for SMEs

Stanbic Bank Head of Business and Commercial […]

Stanbic Bank Head of Business and Commercial Banking Chanda Mwila has described This year’s Agricultural and Commercial Show Theme “Trade and Investment” as a key factor in driving Zambia’s economic growth.

Speaking during the 98 Agriculture and Commercial Show held under the theme “ Fostering Trade and Investment Mwila told Zambian Business Times – ZBT that the theme aligns perfectly with the bank as one of its key clients are small and medium enterprise SME’s. “

Trade and investment is obviously a very key driver for Zambia’s economy and as you know at Stanbic, Zambia is our home, we drive her growth. And as a business and commercial banking, one of the key clients that we deal with are SMEs and we understand that trade and investment is important to open up markets for these SMEs and allow them to go beyond the borders of Zambia,” said Mwila.

She added that Stanbic Bank is not only opening markets for SME’s but also providing them with access to finance. “We are providing access to finance to our SMEs and giving them access to markets, through our partner with our counterpart ICBC in China allowing our SMEs to travel to China and sort of meet customers, suppliers, potential buyers, display their products giving them a variety of networking events that we facilitate in China because we understand that China is a key player for Africa in general and Zambia in particular in terms of trade and opening up new markets for our customers,” said Mwila.

She further urged SMEs looking forward to grow their business through trade to remain informed and approach Stanbic for capacity building. “ The key for SMEs looking forward to grow through tradeis to stay informed and not to be afraid to approach Stanbic as the bank also provide capacity building, which helps SME’s to be a more bankable business showing our SME’s how to do basic accounting, how to just present their business case to the bank to make it more bankable and help them access the finance that they need in the future for grow of their business,” said Mwila.

By Justine Phiri