November 30, 2021
Forty (40) more beneficiaries at Sumbuya, Bo District have received brand new motorbikes from the Rokel Commercial Bank as part of an on-going Small and Medium Enterprise Development programme. The bikes were formally handed over at a ceremony attended by the bank’s top management, community stakeholders and excited bike riders.
The forty motorbikes are essentially another batch from an on-going loan scheme that targets the distribution of motorbikes to young unemployed people as a way of reducing joblessness and poverty among the country’s rural youths. The Scheme involves a local entrepreneur, KAM Enterprise who acts as middleman and guarantor to facilitate and ensure effective loan recovery. The scheme innovatively defies conventional, often cumbersome and rigid process of bank lending. Each beneficiary/loanee is expected to pay back the bank loan within a period of 18 months. The overall aim is to enhance economic recovery by empowering the informal sector which has the capacity to generate income and directly contribute to the country’s GDP.
Handing over the Motorbikes, the Deputy Managing Director of Rokel Commercial Bank, Emmanuel E. Borbor recalled how the bank has repositioned itself from a loss making to a profit making financial institution and said the SME loan scheme was one of several transformative projects the bank is undertaking to help boost the economy as well as promote financial inclusion. “We all know an idle mind is the devil’s workshop but these loans will take our young people to work and contribute to our economy as well as transform them into meaningful members of society” he said reiterating the need for loan repayment compliance. The Deputy Managing Director also encouraged the beneficiaries to engage in other income generating activities adding that economic diversification is a sure way to promote micro economic growth.
Chairing the event, the Southern Region Commission, Right to Access Information Commissioner Biah Idriss re-echoed calls for the bank to extend the SME loan facilities to other areas in the district.
Other speakers include PC Badara Nallo of Lugbu Chiefdom, Director, Risk Management Morrison Conteh, Umaru Shyllon, Business Centre Manager and Rokel Banks’ SME Manager, Haja Fanta Jalloh.