SME Banking: Solving the $6.1 Billion Service Gap

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are the engine of Ethiopia’s growth, yet they face a staggering $6.1 billion financing gap. Beyond just the lack of credit, SMEs suffer from a lack of specialized service. A business owner needing to discuss a Letter of Credit or a trade finance loan often has to stand in the same queue as a retail customer making a small withdrawal.

This is a failure of segmentation. SMEs are high-value, time-poor clients. Bank-Genie empowers banks to treat them that way. Through our system, Bank of Abyssinia can identify SME clients the moment they walk in the door—or even before, if they book an appointment via mobile.

The system automatically routes these business owners to specialized relationship managers, bypassing the general teller queues. This VIP treatment does two things: it respects the business owner's time, and it increases the bank’s conversion rate on high-value lending products, directly addressing the market failure in SME finance.