By NKIRUKA NNOROM

Having the right kind of structures and developing adequate capacity has been identified as the critical success factor for any small and medium scale enterprises, SMEs, in Nigeria.

Mr. Ken Okpara, Head, SME, Fidelity Bank Plc, made the observation, weekend, while speaking to Vanguard on the sideline of the 50th birthday anniversary of the bank’s Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo, in Lagos.

He stated that if the promoters of SMEs would get it right in terms of building the necessary platform and structures, securing loans from any deposit money bank, specilaised funding like the one provided by the Bank of Industry, BoI, or even internationally, would be a walk-over.

He stated that bearing the challenges in mind, Fidelity Bank has developed models that help the bank to nurture SMEs to growth by providing advisory services and capacity building where necessary as well as taking them through what it means to run sustainable business.

He said, “When you approach SMEs, they will tell you that fund is their problem, but when we began as a bank, we conducted an analysis and we discovered that it is not just about funding.

“We observed that when you provide the funding and the SMEs do not have the capacity and the right structure, they will not do well. So, we discovered that capacity and structure are the major issues facing SMEs and that was why we began to build up the advisory services.”

“There are key man risks associated with what the SMEs do and of course, we recognise that if they operate in this manner, they are not going to go beyond the level where they are.

“What we have done as a bank is to help them to put structures in place and to also provide record keeping; we help to address the key man risk associated with that and when they do that, of course, they become a good bride for accessing fund,” he added.