National Bank of Malawi (NBM) has asked small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country to capitalise on good management skills and ensure that all businesses and personal transactions are professionally run to grow their business and attain best returns.

The bank's Head of Retail Banking Division Oswin Kasunda said this in an interview on the sidelines of the bank's customer interaction function held in Liwonde on Saturday. He pledged that the bank will continue to offer advisory services on business, financial and account management in a bid to help SMEs grow.

Said Kasunda: "Malawi and other economies largely depend on SMEs as a tool for economic growth because they are in majority. We believe that it is important for small businesses to have proper skills and support to be successful and fully realise their potential in the economy of the country." While admitting that SMEs are facing a number of challenges in the course of undertaking their businesses in a sound position.

"We realise that SMEs are facing challenges especially in a time that such as this when the economy is not perfoming well. With high inflation and interest rates, it has become hard for businesses to survive and sustain their businesses which often do not have resilience to stand against the hard economic situation. It is, therefore important to have a sound position to overcome such situtions,"he said.

For her part, NBM business development manager Wezi Mwazani said the bank will continue to scale up its efforts by setting deliberate policies to accomodate SMEs to help them effectively manage their businesses.

She asked the SMEs to develop business plans saying the plan gives directions to their businesses.