SME Bank attracts huge crowd at first opening in Yaounde

The head office building of the Bank for Small and Medium-size Enterprises, BC-PME in Nlongkak, Yaounde which is also housing the regional branch, has since yesterday, July 20, 2015, played host to an exceptional crowd.

The bank’s staff, most of whom were in their official working outfit of black suits, white shirts and red ties, with reception hostesses in blue and green T-shirts on black trousers, were all beaming with smiles as customers arrived the building. It was a near-beehive hall with staff ready to guide clients and the battery of pressmen who came to cover the landmark opening of the Presidential promise, made during the 2011 Agro-pastoral Show in Ebolowa.

Ibrahim Aristo Nji Nkaere of the Yaounde-based Baeta and Fils Enterprise sees in the opening of the long-awaited BC-PME a breakthrough. His enterprise is into import and export as well as service provision. The headache is the difficulty to access funding from commercial banks that in most cases prefer to offer petty loans.

Ibrahim Aristo Nji Nkaere says his level is beyond paltry credits. The promoter of Epacam, an agro-business enterprise, Keumbou Alain, is already abreast with the bank’s offers and sees in it a glimmer of hope. He told Cameroon Tribune that the offers are better than what they get in commercial banks. Keumbou Alain sounded hopeful, saying the bank will certainly propel some of them to emergence. The interest rates depend on the amount and Small and Medium-size Enterprises, SMEs promoters say they are interesting, compared to what they get from commercial banks.

Albert Djeukeng of Flash Auto Services came to the BC-PME yesterday to witness the birth of what he refers to as a beautiful baby. The bank, in his words, is his mother. The promoter of Alpha Sarl Yaounde, Jules Tegang has benefitted from Technipole and Empretec government training.

The Ministry of Small and Medium-size Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicraft, has always assured of the dawn of a new era with focus on facilitating the ever-challenging question of financing. The opening of the BC-PME will encourage some petty enterprises not to remain at the artisanal level. Jules Tegang is confident that the bank will not only help industrialise the sector, but will also serve as a veritable lever.

The Branch Manager for BC-PME, Yaounde, Félix Sonny Ghislain Oundi, has had positive responses from business persons. The challenge is however to satisfy customers. A task that is held in high esteem by the bank’s management team, said Ghislain Oundi.

The General Manager of BC-PME, Agnès Ndoumbè Mandeng, says measures have already been taken to create awareness on the technical operationalisation of the bank. Staff have already been dispatched with fliers around town. She explained that the bank is at the “knowing-your-customer” stage whereby both the institution and would-be customers are into professional and business contacts.

Agnès Ndoumbè Mandeng however revealed that the first loans will only be given out after the first three months. Loans are not given out to first time customers without knowing who they are, she cautioned.