UN MSME: Advancing SME credit access through institutional financial framework

The United Nations observes Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day each year on June 27 to recognise the critical role of small businesses in economic growth, job creation, and sustainable development. Although the observance falls annually on that date, the broader conversation around strengthening SME access to finance remains relevant year-round, particularly in examining financial frameworks that have improved credit access in developing economies.

Across Africa, one of the most persistent barriers facing SMEs remains the inability to obtain financing because many small businesses lack the structured financial records and credit histories required by commercial lenders. Against this backdrop, and as we usually do when we celebrate the UN MSME Day, we shine our spotlight on a professional who is making waves around Africa. Ghanaian financial strategist Patrick Botchwey has emerged as one of the professionals whose work has materially improved how financial institutions evaluate small business risk and expand responsible lending.

Patrick Botchwey is a distinguished financial strategist and management consultant whose career spans tax strategy consulting at KPMG, executive financial leadership as Chief Finance Officer at Complete Farmer, and institutional finance advisory across public and private sector systems. His work has increasingly drawn attention because of a structured SME credit scoring and risk assessment framework he designed to address weaknesses in SME lending evaluation.

At a time when many financial institutions across West Africa were struggling with inconsistent SME underwriting and rising loan quality concerns leading to a high rate of non-performing loans, Patrick developed an integrated model combining financial ratio analysis, governance indicators, sector-adjusted risk weighting, and consolidated scoring outputs to create a standardised SME risk scoring framework adaptable across SMEs’ different borrower categories. The framework has given lenders a clearer basis for evaluating small businesses that previously fell outside conventional credit models.

While the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) made it mandatory for commercial banks to follow due process in risk management for SMEs, before giving credit, Patrick explains that banks are protecting their credits to reduce non-performing loans from their SME customers. Thus, Patrick Botchwey’s credit scoring and risk assessment framework is solving this challenge: “A unified risk scoring approach, a better credit risk management”.

Wouldn’t it be beautiful if you had a unified risk scoring management tool that can access all SME risk analytics before credits are granted, such that when you go for credits, all your SME risk analytics are shown to you without the need to provide fragmented data sets? This is a relief to both lenders and deficit SME funding units,” Botchwey said.

The significance of that work became visible when the framework was adopted by two regulated large commercial banks operating in Ghana’s formal banking sector. The CFO of one of the major banks mentions that implementation of this novel risk scoring tool contributed to measurable improvements in onboarding quality and fraud control, including reductions in fraudulent SME account openings, lower chargeback losses, faster customer onboarding, and significant reductions in manual KYC processing. The system also enabled thousands of previously underserved thin-file SME customers to be assessed within formal banking processes. This was evidenced in the reduction in non-performing loans.

He recounts, “This structured credit methodology expanded access to finance on a larger scale. Loan approvals for SMEs increased significantly, approximately 15,000 new borrowers entered the lending system, and new lending volumes rose substantially while portfolio risk indicators improved”. The framework also supported stronger inclusion outcomes, particularly for women-led enterprises whose access to formal credit increased meaningfully under the revised lending structure. Today, his model guides over 15 + financial institutions and the respective central banks in West Africa, which are recommending financial institutions to adopt the model.

Beyond commercial banking, Patrick’s grant evaluation work gained wider institutional acceptance during a World Bank-supported engagement he was part of to strengthen Ghana’s Enterprise Agency and improve SME support systems nationally. In that engagement, his grant evaluation methodology was reviewed and adopted by the Ghana Enterprise Agency Grants Committee, Ghana’s Ministry of Finance, and the World Bank task team as the governing method for evaluating approximately $50 million in SME support funding reaching over 2,000 enterprises nationwide.

Financial sector analysts and the Central Bank of Ghana note that the importance of such work extends beyond individual institutions. As Ghana continues efforts to strengthen underwriting discipline and improve credit quality across its banking system, frameworks from all angles that improve borrower assessment at the institutional level increasingly shape broader market resilience.

Patrick’s profile also reflects broader professional recognition. He is a Full Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG) and a Practising Member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, Ghana (CITG), professional credentials reserved for qualified practitioners meeting rigorous standards in accounting and taxation.

His earlier work at KPMG exposed him to enterprise-level tax and management consulting assignments involving public finance, institutional reform, and financial systems strengthening. At Complete Farmer, where he later served as Chief Finance Officer, he applied similar financial strategy principles within venture-backed agri-technology, helping align capital deployment with operational growth.