Lender offers co-working space to rejuvenate small businesses

Jamii Bora Bank has devised alternative ways of helping Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSEMs) achieve their business objectives.

The bank’s Chief Business Officer Alex Kasiki explains that the bank offers advisory and office co-working space.

“We offer meeting room facilities with screens to project presentations or enjoy teleconferencing with business partners anywhere in the world. We help in drafting quotations, responding to request for proposals for different projects, invitation to bid and putting all the paper work needed to win that dream business that you are chasing,” Mr Kasiki says.

The lender also provides internet, board and meeting rooms. The lender organises forums that speak to enterprises on subjects of interest on a regular basis.

SMEs informal

Recently, the bank hosted a Supa Mama forum which brought together hundreds of business women from different business backgrounds to share their stories, successes and challenges.

Beyond loans and trade finance facilities, the bank also offers advisory services on business formation and registration. This is after the bank realised that many MSMEs are informal making it difficult to win tenders or secure financing.

Kasiki says many youth and women lack the knowledge of how to register a company or form youth and women groups in order to access funds. “We see ourselves as more than just a bank to our MSME clients, we are a partner,” says Kasiki.