By KENNEDY MUPESENI –
BUSINESS Partners International Zambia has approved about K10 million for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to be disbursed this quarter.
Meanwhile, the financial institution has projected to grow its lending portfolio to more than K12 million to fund business projects run by SMEs in Zambia.
Country manager Zenas Kambandu said his organisation would fund SMEs projects to the tune of K10 million in the third quarter of 2015.
“In this quarter we have approved K10 million worth of loan facility which will go to SMEs in the country targeting various sectors of the economy except mining and agriculture due to specialised nature of the industries,” Mr Kabandu said.
He observed that business in the year 2014 was slow as the business just started operations in Zambia which saw only K4million to enterprises in the country.
Mr Kabandu however, said this year business picked up pointing on the fact that the funds disbursed this year would be almost doubled looking at the response from clients.
SMEs were the key drivers of creating wealth, reducing poverty and creating jobs not only in Zambia but globally.
In Africa, it is reported that access to finance is a challenge for many SMEs with 45 per cent of small firms citing access to finance as a major constraint to growth.
He added that as demand for the company’s products increase, it would continue increasing amount of funds on its loan portfolio beyond K10 million that had been approved.
The Business Partners International SME Fund, which the company runs in Zambia, is part of the Business Partners International southern Africa SME fund, which is a regional investment fund.
Applicants may qualify for financing of between K275,000  and K5.5 million but will only be considered if they have a viable owner managed business, integrity, drive and experience to manage a successful independent enterprise.
Repayment periods are negotiated with individual entrepreneurs and will usually be between three and five years.