New finance company, GroFin, to revolutionrise SME financing sector

A new micro finance company, GroFin, is promising to revolutionaries the system of financing Small Scale Enterprises.

Unlike the traditional finance institutions which require collateral in the form of assets, before lending money to businesses, GroFin, according to its Chief Commercial Officer, Charles Reed, demands things borrowers, especially SMEs can readily provide – viability of the business and the seriousness and credibility of the managers.

Speaking on Joy FM's Super Morning Show Thursday, Mr Reed said, “For us, our model is a little different from your traditional security-based lenders or your collateral-based lenders; we look at the business based on viability so we look at the individuals involved in the business, we look at the business itself and we make a decisions whether we think that business is going to be viable over the long-term and is going to be sustainable and successful.”

Explaining the reasons why micro finance companies often demand collateral, Mr. Reed said, “we do look at collateral [because] if you came and said you would like to borrow some money from us and you had collateral to pledge and you weren't prepared to pledge it, the first question I'd ask is, 'Do you believe in your business'?”

Borrowers must be aware that if they have collateral to pledge and they refuse to do so, that will be a warning to lenders, he added.

He said if a business is assessed to be viable, GroFin does not really require the level of collateral that traditional lenders would require.

Instead, the company would consider debt support and lends within the range of $50,000 to $1.5 million at a maximum interest rate of 26 per cent, even though the average interest rate normally ranges between 23 to 24 per cent depending on the profile of the company with a repayment term of between 4 – 7 years, he asserted.

Chief Commercial Officer for GroFin Africa, said “We are not sector-limited so we…finance schools, health clinics, manufacturers, retailers, tourism, entertainments, restaurants, services…”