Fidelity Bank Builds Capacity Of Selected Sme�s To Attract Investors

Fidelity Bank in partnership with Entrepreneurship Ventures and Songhai, has organized a two day workshop for selected businesses in Ghana under the theme �Taking Ideas to Market Globally�. The workshop which was held at the Labadi Beach Hotel, aimed at enabling businesses to acquire insights on how to pitch their business to potential regional and international investors. Mr Ken Morse who served on the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, set up by President Obama in delivering the workshop, explained that customer oriented and a scientific sales driven culture is the most important differentiator between highly successful and average firms. He took participants through how to formulate �elevator pitches� to ultimately gain the attention of the investors and partners they require. Speaking at the event, the Managing Director and CEO of Fidelity Bank, Mr Edward Effah, indicated that, the Bank is constantly exploring innovative ways of supporting the SME sector of the economy. �The bank acknowledges that in addition to access to finance, SMEs will greatly benefit from capacity building and access to market initiatives and this is one of many the bank has planned.� The Director for Commercial and SME Banking, Mr Julian Opuni, added that the provision of non financial services to strengthen the SMEs in our local economy is a way to provide impetus to growth and sustainability within the sector. �Fidelity Bank intends to become a market leader in this respect ensuring that the perceived gap between the sector and financial institutions becomes a thing of the past.� The CEO of BTL Agency, Mr Gabriel Appiah, who participated in the workshop, explained that it was an eye opener for a growing business like his and the knowledge acquired will serve as a catalyst for the growth of his business. He expressed his gratitude to Fidelity Bank for giving growing business like his a chance to develop. Participants were from varied sectors which include the service industry, manufacturing and general trade.