Why do Africans miss Formal Sector Investment every day?
A successful process of raising funds for your business is the first step towards achieving success. Your business may not be able to materialize productive investment opportunities without access to easy and timely finance. Whether it’s a start-up or an expansion, financing is a crucial step towards business success. Generally, financing is raised to fuel working capital and asset purchases. Working capital is the amount required to manage your day-to-day business operations. This is the amount that needs to remain stuck in the business. It may be in the form of inventory, receivables, and prepaid assets. On the other hand, asset purchase is about the acquisition of the property, plant, and equipment to support the expansion and strategic capability of the business. It is relatively difficult for small businesses and individuals to raise finance in Africa. This article will focus on why the difficulty to get financing from formal financing institutions like banks, insurance companies, leasing companies etc. Africa’s generally low-income economy plays a major part in this. It’s important to note that the goal of financing companies and banks is to make money. Their business model is based on collecting interest, premiums, fees, and principal repayment. So, higher amounts of interest and premiums can be collected when the targeted country has a higher income level. Unfortunately, African countries have some of the lowest income levels. As per a recent report from the World Bank, more than half of sub-Saharan countries have a poverty rate of more than 35% (world bank). And a more alarming situation is that there has been a 3% rise in poverty in recent years mostly due to the Coronavirus pandemic (UN). Furthermore, it is projected that 6% of the entire world’s population in 2030 will still be living in extreme poverty if current trends continue (UNSTATS). So it becomes difficult for the banks and other financing companies to collect timely repayment for the interest and principal. Another picture to analyze is that banks approve a loan for the business based on financial feasibility and financial sustainability. It is difficult to prove financial feasibility/sustainability due to lower buying power in African countries. So, there are few instances when financing is approved for the Africans. Financial feasibility is focused on the economic viability of the project. It helps understand the related cost, expenses, and revenue specific to the project. If expected revenue is higher than the total cost, the project is financially viable. However, it’s important to note that feasibility involves operational aspects like managerial competence, operational capacity, and other aspects. Financial sustainability means the business can sell the products/services at a price that covers expenses and leads to profitability. In other words, if the business is not able to generate sufficient return for the stakeholders, it will not be able to survive in the long term. Most businesses do not know how to present their proposals in this manner to analysts in the formal financial markets i.e. clearly articulating the financial feasibility and sustainability of their projects in a format that can be easily be assessed. The Business Plan/Proposal is your story of why you need the capital and that should clearly spell out how the investor stands to benefit and how their funds will be safeguarded with clear structures on how every single aspect is going to be handled. Identify all the risks in your business and how to mitigate them and you will have the attention and interest of the investor/lender. In Africa, many households complain that they do not get financing while many banks complain they are not able to find creditworthy customers. Hence, one prime reason for limited banking activity seems to be the lower-income economy of an African region. The irony is that greater financing efforts by the formal financial institutions to these same low-income households will help to foster the economic development of the country, of the continent. For instance, financing made available by the banks can be used to efficiently run business operations leading to enhanced production, exports, revenue, and increase of a country’s GDP. So banks have massive potential to enhance economic activity. However, their interest is at stake here in such situations as they may not be able to collect their funds. To chip in on insurance companies, they also depend on the premium collected from policyholders. Hence, they also consider businesses’ ability to pay a premium on a timely basis. (VOXEU) Further, businesses operating in a low-income generating economy may not be able to cover the financing cost, as their revenue may not be sufficient to cover the operational expenses. And in the instance where they have a good case, articulating this to the formal financial sector can be a barrier to accessing financing. An interesting side of the business model of the bank should be looked at. Understand that banks raise cash through deposits, amongst other ways. The cash is deposited in the banks via current accounts and savings accounts. On the current account, the bank does not need to pay interest. However, banks need to pay interest on the savings accounts. Generally, that cash is disbursed as a loan at a higher interest cost than the interest payable on the savings accounts collectively. The difference between interest payable on the savings accounts and interest receivable on loans is income for the bank. That said, banks are usually reluctant to disburse loans into a low-income economy because of fear of bad debts. So, they prefer to invest deposits in the Government and other stable cash-generating securities with a low risk of default. Alternatively, the bank can also invest in foreign securities. It helps them in managing risk on the investments portfolio and balancing their income/expenses with higher confidence. This creates a low negative impact on banks’ profitability even if they are not able to locate enough creditworthy borrowers. Hence, the banks can extend utilising this simple business model and enjoy profitability. Shortage of information from and about borrowers poses another great problem, as earlier stated; but let me dive in further. Sometimes, the business idea is strong,
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