Barclays Bank Ghana, part of the Absa Group, has organised a welcome session for its SME clients, who recently embarked on trade visits to China, Dubai and Turkey, to seek more opportunities to grow their businesses.

The trip, which was under the Barclays Business Club initiative, enabled over 50 business owners to hold trade discussions and networking sessions with their foreign counterparts on how to collaborate for future business.

It afforded the team the opportunity to meet key entrepreneurs and business owners of related interests from other African countries to share ideas, best practices and experiences. They also participated in this year’s import and export Canton fair at Guangzhou (China) which exposed them to various trade opportunities.

Welcoming the team back to Ghana, Director of Global Markets at Barclays Ghana, Mr Kobla Nyaletey commended the participants for taking advantage of the opportunity provided by the bank to explore other avenues to grow their business.

“Our promise to our clients is beyond providing financial solutions. We are committed to helping build sustainable businesses that will transcend generations. As we prepare to change from Barclays to Absa, we will continue to demonstrate this by delivering relevant solutions, business advisory services and capacity building opportunities that will help our clients grow their businesses” Mr Nyaletey said.

In a brief remark, Head of SME Banking at Barclays Ghana, Mrs Audrey Abakah noted that the trips will be an annual activity for the bank’s Business Club members. She added that other countries will be considered and explored for subsequent trips so customers can be connected to various markets.

The Barclays Business Club initiative enables SME clients to benefit from capacity building, business operation and management training programmes as well as trade trips and business networking opportunities among many others. The Barclays SME trade trip was in partnership with Litina Travel and Tours.