SME financing needs patient capital -Oteh

Oteh made this submission while speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) annual meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
She said: “We need to provide funding at reasonable cost; capital that is patient so that people can grow their businesses, and banking finance is not patient. It is short term, sometimes, particularly in Africa and Middle East where the interest rates are relatively high.
“What we need is capital that would be there for a long time, a market based finance that is long term and there is a global recognition of that which is why some of the things we are focusing at the meeting in Brazil are really the value that capital markets bring to SMEs.”
Oteh said it would be good to enable SMEs by having them list which is why a lot of the discussions around are on how to better support SMEs to list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
She said “I think first and foremost is the recognition globally about the importance of SMEs because they are the ones who create jobs. I think there is a greater focus on how SMEs can be supported.  To grow these SMEs therefore, the capital market is an absolutely important solution to source funds among other reasons.”