This is also to enable the SMEs to demonstrate their credit worthiness to formal lenders.

As part of efforts to support the SME sector and also promote innovation, Standard Chartered Bank, through its SC Ventures, has supported the initiative with US$50,000.

Speaking at the presentation ceremony in Accra, the Chief Executive Officer of Built Accounting, Mr Edward Neequaye, said the application would make financial record keeping easy for SMEs and help them to easily share their financial data with lenders.

“Through our system, we are providing lenders with new, qualified customers, significantly reducing acquisition costs. Our system also helps lending institutions lower their risk costs, enabling them to lend with improved terms and better compete in the financial services market.

“We have worked with over 500 enterprises across Ghana, helping to build healthy financial profiles that allow them to better understand their business. Most of these businesses have gone on to raise funds from local banks and investors,” he stated.

Partnership with organisations

He said the company had also secured partnerships with major entrepreneurship support organisations such as the World Bank-funded Ghana Tech Lab, Technoserve, Workshed, Innohub, among others.

He noted that its partnership with Technoserve worked directly with 320 enterprises.

He said these enterprises had gone on to mobilise over US$480,000 in credit, generating US$2.5 million in incremental revenue and creating over 500 jobs.

SC Ventures

The Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bank Ghana, Ms Mansa Nettey, said the bank through its SC Ventures arm was supporting innovation from young people.

She said the bank therefore decided to partner One Young World (OYW), a UK based NGO that gathers young leaders from around the world, to develop solutions to the world’s most pressing issues.

“The OYW launched the Lead2030 challenge in October which seek to get young leaders to innovate and begin to solve world problems, and out of the 1200 submissions, 10 people were selected and Stanchart partnered with them to select one of them to support his initiative,” she stated.

“We hope that this problem will help solve a problem that pertains in the country,” she added.

Aside the US$50,000 support, she said Stanchart would also offer a free one year mentoring to Mr Edward Neequaye.