CRDB borrows leaf from Malaysia to boost SMEs

CRDB Bank

CRDB Bank is seeking to replicate the Malaysia’s Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) success story to Tanzania to boost its contribution to economic development.

To start with the bank top brass, led by its Chairman Dr Ally Laay, met Malaysia’s Undersecretary, Policy and International Relations Division, Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives, Dr Syahira Binti Hamidon.

The bank’s delegation, visiting Kuala Lumpur, was given a presentation on the country’s entrepreneur development as they seek to replicate the success of Asian Tiger growth in the country.

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“We have come to learn from the Malaysian government and the private sector on how they have managed to establish a robust economy backed by entrepreneurs,” said Dr Laay through a statement yesterday.

The lender is seeking to back government efforts in speeding up economic growth with focus on small and medium enterprises which employ the bulk of youth and women in the country.

“As a truly Tanzanian bank we have been working with small and medium size enterprises for many years but our visit here is aimed at learning more on the latest good business practices that will be imparted to our local SMEs,” Dr Laay said.

He said CRDB was the first bank in the country to establish an SME banking unit in 2005 because of the important role that the segment plays in the development of the economy.

CRDB’s Managing Director and CEO, Abdulmajid Nsekela, said the largest lender with a strong SME segment, wants to take its SME owners and manager to global standards so that they can compete.

“We came to Malaysia because it’s an ideal place where SMEs have played a key role in the growth of the Asian Tiger’s economy,” said Mr Nsekela.

He pointed out that the visit by the top management and the board is just a continuation of efforts by his administration to back state efforts in speeding up economic growth with a strong SME segment.

“At CRDB we have developed a number of products targeting SMEs through our SME Banking Unit. Some of the products are; Working capital loan, Investment loan, for the past three years we have dished out about 2.0tri/-” he said.

In 2020, CRDB launched a special account for SMEs dubbed Hodari account which is tailored to cater for all SME’s needs. The account is integrated with digital payment solutions to enable them easily accept payments (SimBanking, QR Codes, Point of Sales”.

In her presentation, Dr Syahira Binti Hamidon said over 90 per cent of business establishments in Malaysia are SMEs.

“Currently we have a National Entrepreneurship Policy 2030 with focus on electronic commerce so that our SMEs should compete globally without hiccups,” she said.

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