In a bid to strengthen its foothold in the small and medium enterprise sector, KCB Bank Uganda has launched a business club geared towards widening business opportunities to its customers.
Through the club “KCB Business Club”, customers will benefit from reduced cost of borrowing, SME business advisory services, seminars and workshops, as well as local, regional and international business trips.
Speaking during the launch of the club, Mathias Muhimbisa, the Executive Director KCB Bank, said the business club is a strategic move by the bank to solidify its presence in the SME sector.
“Most of our SME’s are skewed towards trading, by bringing them together we are giving them an opportunity to tap and learn from each other.” Said Muhimbisa, “We hope to build their capacity through the international business trips where they can tap into new and emerging markets across the world.”
Economic growth and job creation are closely linked to the success of the SME sector. SMEs, however, struggle to grow past the 5-year mark as due to lack of access to capital and poor managerial skills.
According to Mr. Muhimbisa, the club will provide an opportunity for businesses to have access to a reduced cost of borrowing as well as training workshops on business management to help the SMEs become much more knowledgeable about the local business environment and investment opportunities.
“SMEs need to keep abreast of changes in the social, digital and international landscape cost effectively, adapting business practice to take advantage of these changes is key to successful innovative businesses.”
The KCB Business club is open to all KCB SME customers.