50 percent of midsized companies able to secure loans: survey-Video

Dar es Salaam. Fifty five percent of midsized companies that participated in this year's Top 100 mid-sized company survey are now able to secure finance within one month of loan application.

This was revealed on Thursday 24, when presenting survey findings for Top 100 midsized companies by Research Lead, ZA Advisory, Ramidius Ruhinduka.

He said, the survey to find out whether they were facing challenges in securing finance showed that 85 percent of loans were approved while 15 percent were rejected.

"Out of the 15 percent rejected, 76 percent of credit applicants were turned down due to lack of collateral of security,” he said.

In view of this he said that midsized companies have called on the government to regulate interest rates for SMEs as well as increase the range of assets accepted as collateral.

Further they called on financers to come up with innovative and affordable products and reduce financing requirements to a minimal level.

Top 100 mid-sized companies is an initiative by KPMG and Mwanachi Communications Ltd that aims to identify the fastest growing mid-sized companies in the country and reward them.

The aim is to enable them benchmark themselves against their peers, facilitate growth and understand challenges.

He said the company’s performance is surveyed for the last three years to identify companies that have eligible annual revenue, a turnover of between Sh1 billion and Sh20 billion.

They also have to have audited books of not less than three years, should not be listed, not be a bank, insurance or legal company.

He noted that companies that participated in the survey, 77 percent are from Dar es Salaam, 10 percent from Arusha and Mwanza, and 4 percent from other regions.

The sector distribution includes construction, mining IT and transport while a majority of companies are locally owned 66 percent, 34 percent jointly owned by local and foreign.