Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, the Pan African bank, held the first ever Africa SME Champions conference with a call on SMEs in Africa to be disciplined and to interact with each other for a common goal.

Madam Esther A. N. Cobbah, Chief Executive Officer of Stratcomm Africa, who made the call said it would be encouraging that SMEs in Africa maintained discipline and also interacted frequently with each other across the borders in the African continent.

Madam Cobbah who was addressing the conference held in Dakar, Senegal from November 11-12, 2014, said “This gathering itself communicates some important messages".

A statement by Stratcomm Africa and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Friday said AfricSearch and African Guarantee Fund were co-organizers of the unique platform for African SMEs to discuss issues they constantly had to grapple with.

Mr. Albert Essien, Chief Executive Officer of ETI said, “having started as an African SME itself, Ecobank continues to maintain a unique relationship with African SMEs and Ecobank understands the needs of African SMEs and maintains a special relationship with them.”

He also launched an SME Club during the Conference in which five Ghanaian “SME Champions” participated.

Mr Essien said “The health of economies in each of our countries has to be measured by the health of SMEs because all our aspirations for creating jobs, for increasing productivity, for improved living standards can only be realized as we develop the capabilities of such enterprises.

“We can also use such interactions to exchange experiences and ensure that more and more of such initiatives in enterprise are successful across our continent.

“The commitment to SMEs that Ecobank is communicating here is truly laudable. ‘Africa Rising’ is only meaningful as SMEs in Africa rise!”

The event was attended by over 500 participants including Ministers of African states. It also featured one of the founders of ETI and now an Honorary President, Gervais Koffi Djondo who made reference to the Pan African aspirations of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and "insisted that this is the way for the African continent to make progress".

He considered distinctions between Francophone, Anglophone, Lusophone Africa, for instance, as meaningless.

Mr. Abdulai Abdul-Rahman, Head of SME Banking in Ecobank Ghana said, “We were pleased to showcase some of Ghana’s “SME Champions” at this forum".

Ecobank’s SME Unit, since its establishment, remains committed to facilitating the survival and growth of SMEs in Ghana as part of ETIs commitment to SMEs throughout Africa.”

Africa SME Champions Forum was jointly organised by AfricSearch, African Guarantee Fund and Ecobank.

The Forum created an ecosystem of leading African SMEs, financial institutions, highly skilled experts, economic and political decision makers from all five regions of Africa.

It provided selected SME champions, a platform for learning, networking and sharing for their growth and the development of the continent.