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The Ecobank Group has received the African Banker’s 2021 African SME Bank of the Year 2020 award. The award recognizes the bank which has significantly contributes to the development of the SME sector.

Part of the entry criteria required that the winning bank has significantly catalyzed funding into the private sector in Africa. In addition to this, the bank should have promoted enterprise development by facilitating credit and access to finance for SMEs.

Since the onset of COVID-19 in Kenya in Kenya March last year, Ecobank has increased investments in programs targeting SMEs. The bank did this by expanding SME-focused lines of credit, providing technical assistance to SME development institutions and building SMEs’ capacity by linkage with its partners.

Through the Ellevate by Ecobank initiative for women-led and women-focused businesses across Africa, the Group has been promoting gender inclusion and closing the gender finance gap.

Commenting on the win, Ecobank Group Executive of Commercial Banking, Josephine Ankomah said, “2020 was a year of unprecedented challenges on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. It required resilience and innovation. We needed to rethink our business and provide innovative ways to assist our SME customers to help them to survive the difficulties brought about by the pandemic. We are truly honoured to receive this recognition.”

Listed below are some of the measures taken by Ecobank to support SMEs in 2020

  • Proactive institution of mitigating actions including tenor extensions and moratoriums on interest, to assist SMEs manage their loan repayments.
  • Maximizing the use of digital channels such as Ecobank Omni Lite to provide customers with capabilities to make payments remotely and conveniently.
  • Upskilling staff to ensure their capacity to help develop the SME sector.
  • Collaborating with existing risk sharing partners, particularly Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), to share a portion of the lending risk.
  • Partnering with Google to provide customers with the means to develop free online presence through the Google My Business platform.
  • Collaborating with the African Union’s Development Agency to focus on strengthening Africa’s support for MSMEs.
  • Growing the number of merchants using Ecobank’s point-of-sale (POS) terminals and flagship collections.