The sugarcane and turmeric sectors have been eyed by a lending facility as the next portfolios that could be tapped into.
Fiji Development Bank Chief Executive Officer, Saud Minam’s comments yesterday, come as the bank wraps up another financial year.
“Once you look at it from a portfolio perspective, life becomes much easier rather than an individual basis,” he said.
Mr Minam said it was easier to take a holistic approach in paving the way forward.
“Our focus will continue to remain on Small Medium Enterprise (SME), agriculture, and then all of our services will be delivered through digital channels,” he said.
“That’s our purpose.”
In another development, Mr Minam said female-specific loan packages would be designed by this year, as the lending facility raised its level of gender support.
Chief Executive Officer, Saud Minam, said the bank aimed to raise the number of female loan applicants from 11 per cent, to 25 per cent in the next three years.
“The value of the loans from females was also around 11 per cent,” he said.
“We look at the entrepreneurs and the way they do business,” Mr Minam said.
“We should be looking at something basic, where entrepreneurs will need some sort of a capital injection to take their business to the next level.”
“We feel very comfortable with those sorts of entrepreneurs, and to support them.”
“Some female entrepreneurs who had taken loans from FDB operated businesses that were in the higher end of the market,” Mr Minam said.
“We do not discriminate; from a lending point of view, we only look at the financial statements of the individual or the companies,” he said.
“We, as a bank, need to be seen as a place where it is easy to get the loans.”
“It does not mean we will be compromising our credit policies.”
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