BANKS SHOULD SUPPORT SMALL BUSINESSES (PAGE 4)

By George Ernest Asare, Kumasi.

A 52-YEAR-OLD small-scale industrialist, Madam Philomena Gyempeh, has expressed concern about the negative attitude of the banks over the granting of loans to small-scale industrialists.
She said such attitude undermined the initiative and innovations, and militated against accelerated socio-economic development.
Explaining, Madam Gyempeh who resides at Pramso in the Bosomtwe District of Ashanti Region told Graphic Nsempa that bankers always refused to grant loans to small and medium scale industrialists on the grounds that “we have not developed our businesses to an appreciable level to warrant adequate financial support”.
She outlined her vision as an industrialist in a rural community and the problems that are militating against her efforts in expanding her business.
She is the sole baker in the Pramso community and among the few in the Bosomtwe District, and therefore has a lot of customers who patronise her products.
Madam Gyempeh also produces assorted soap, which are of high demand, but inadequate financial resources makes it impossible for her to expand the business to meet the demands of her customers.
Apart from the bread she bakes, she is also into the pastries business, which she supplies to bereaved families during funeral celebrations in the surrounding communities, as well as marriage ceremonies and other social gatherings.
Madam Gyempeh said efforts to secure loans to buy a mini bus that would be used to supply some of her products to customers in the neighbouring communities always hit the rocks.
“ The banks are killing initiatives, that is the reason why poverty has become endemic in the rural communities”, he said.
“ I have now resorted to producing soap and bread in small quantities to meet the demands of my immediate customers because producing them in large quantities without any vehicle to convey them to the surrounding communities would greatly undermine my business transactions”, she stressed.
She said apart from these products, she also had the skills to produce batik, tie-dye.
“I will venture into that business and will be ready to impart my skills to anyone who desires to learn their production, she said”.
Madam Gyempeh who used to deal in second hand clothes in Accra later diverted to chop bar business before entering into baking.
The death of her mother in 2004 affected her business in Accra, which forced her to relocate to Pramso where she started her current baking business.
A few years later, she expanded the business by producing assorted soap.
Madam Gyempeh advised unemployed women in the surrounding communities to learn a trade “instead of folding their arms to wait for manna to fall from heaven”.
“At the moment, I can say that life is very challenging, but if you do not take the first step, no one will come to your aid, so I will urge women in the various communities to start a business which can generate a little money to make life meaningful to them”, she advised.