FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

Thai Credit Retail Bank educates and finances micro SMEs

Thai Credit Retail Bank educates and finances micro SMEs

Thai Credit Retail Bank is pushing its Tang To Know-how programme to equip micro small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with equal and sustainable growth opportunities.

The economic situation and the Covid-19 pandemic are widely affecting all sectors and one of them is the small entrepreneur, or micro SME. Although it is a relatively large group, the individual size of the business is small, hence it is difficult to access financial services, the bank said.

"Illegal lenders" is a solution that small entrepreneurs often choose, paying high interest rates on loans, resulting in growing debt.

Thai Credit Retail Bank educates and finances micro SMEs

"We were able to see that a large portion of Thailand’s population fell outside the coverage of banking and financial institutions who focused more on targeting less risky customers," said Roy Agustinus Gunara, managing director of the bank. "But we felt the pain of this segment and Thai Credit focused its efforts towards serving the underserved needs of a relatively large, ignored segment of Thai consumers, in order to help them gain equal access to financial services,"

Thai Credit Retail Bank launched Tang To Know-how, a financial literacy programme for small entrepreneurs, especially merchants’ group. Participants in the Tang To Know-how programme are able to be inspired about their potential and the possibilities for their businesses and actually take the pertinent steps towards making their dreams a reality, Gunara said.

"Thai Credit is working with the University of Thai Chamber of Commerce to ensure that the curriculum is rational, logical and methodical. Our partnership with UTCC also provides participants with peace of mind that the courses they are taking part in, are validated by a respected academic institution," Gunara said.

In 2021, the programme curriculum has been upgraded to academic standards, accredited by the Faculty of Accountancy, the University of Thai Chamber of Commerce, to solve the problems of household debt and bad debt in businesses, which affect the country’s economic growth.

The content consists of fundamental marketing and management, digital banking, creating and driving sales channels, basics of financial management and record keeping, preparation for applying for a bank loan, working capital and profit management etc.

In the past, more than 98 per cent of over 30,000 participants who joined the programme stayed financially disciplined, enabling them to manage their debt effectively and build strong business credit, Gunara said.

The programme, which is free of charge, has conducted 1,161 sessions in all regions of the country.

Thai Credit Retail Bank educates and finances micro SMEs

When asked about the next step of the Tang To Know-how programme, apart from organising training sessions every year, Gunara said: “For Thai Credit Retail Bank, it’s not about breadth, it’s about depth. We will indeed grow the Tang To Know-how programme, but more important than simply scaling and trying to spread our reach, we want to do whatever we can to ensure that customers and non-customers alike who go through the programme, ultimately becoming more empowered. Rather than being a crutch, Thai Credit Retail Bank wants to be an enabler for our customers to grow their businesses.

“In the future, we want to be the centre of education and content provider for our customers, and we want to be able to promote their business.”

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