By Ahmed Rahma
To create efficiency and transparency in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), the world leader in digital payments, Visa, has partnered with Access Bank Plc to introduce a Business Debit Card.
The business card, which comes with a higher spending limit in line with spending patterns of small businesses, is to prevent mismanagement associated with handling cash.
According to a statement, the card was designed to improve SMEs and will also provide small business owners access to discounts on logistic services and digital payment acceptance services.
Holders of the card will also get discounts on Twitter Ads, Shopify, Microsoft Office 365, DocuSign, Regus office space, Udemy and Dropbox.
In addition, Access Bank will offer free Google Ad Credits to the first set of small business entrepreneurs to sign up for the business card.
Commenting on the initiative, The Vice President of Visa West Africa, Ms Kemi Okusanya, affirmed Visa’s role as a payment enabler and its continued efforts towards SMEs.
She said, “At Visa, we remain committed to championing, empowering, and equipping small businesses with the requisite tools necessary for growth.
“Over the past months, we have provided support to help SMEs transition online through our Where You Shop Matters initiative and we are happy to further provide them with digital payment solutions for easy and secure online transactions.
“Additionally, we have collaborated with Google to provide free access to digital selling and marketing trainings to all SMEs.”
According to the 2020 PWC report on small businesses, SMEs contribute 48 per cent of the national GDP, account for 96 per cent of businesses and 84 per cent of employment in Nigeria. However, small businesses are mostly faced with cash flow management problems.
A state of Cashflow report stated that 61 per cent of Small business owners don’t know exactly how much money their business spends each month. The new Visa business debit card will encourage the transition of small businesses from cash to digital payments and give SMEs better control of their expenditures.
“We recognise the huge role SME’s play in driving economic growth and, as the largest source of employment, contributing to social progress and stronger communities.
“We are pleased to have partnered with Visa to create this leading solution to help SMEs plan, budget and track spending as well as access services to aid business growth in an increasingly digital marketplace.
“We encourage SME’s to walk into any of our branches and walk out with the new business card in a couple of minutes to start enjoying the benefits instantly,” said the Group Head of Product Insights and Capabilities of Access bank, Mr Robert Giles.
Adedapo Adesanya 
Modupe Gbadeyanka