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Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) and Ghana and Invest In Africa (IIA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) to make them investor ready through credit referencing.With the signing of the MOU it is expected that IIA and D&B would support SMEs on the African Partner Pool (APP) by providing information from D&B on the best way to manage books in order to easily access investment and finance, providing consent for D&B to conduct a credit report for SMEs, and share it with potential investors and partners.
The APP is an online business platform that connects international companies to quality validated local businesses.A statement issued in Accra by Beauty O. Larbi, the Marketing Manager of IIA, said D&B would also be the exclusive Credit Information Reporting Company through which all foreign companies seeking to do business with local companies on the APP could obtain a business profile report or credit information report.
IIA, a cross-sector partnership of companies with the vision to creating thriving African economies, has been set up to give businesses access to skills, finance and new markets.The statement said another initiative of IIA was the Business Excellence Programme, a combined development partners and private sector funded programme with the aim of building businesses to become more competitive.
Mr Adebowale Atobatele D&B Ghana Country Manager, said: “We are excited about our partnership with IIA. It forms a core part of our objective in Ghana which is to create and deliver superior value to stakeholders.”
He said their partnership with IIA would help boost the confidence of investors in Ghanaian businesses while at the same time helping local businesses and their owners to develop the right profile to attract the right type of investments or financing that they required to grow their business.Mr Ibrahima Aminu, the APP Manager, said ‘’This is one of the initiatives IIA is taking to prepare SMEs for access to finance, the agreement with D&B will be of immense value to the SMEs on the APP as it will assist the SMEs on the APP to understand the requirements of financial institutions in applying for access to finance.’’
