“Depositors can walk into a bank any day and demand their money, so commercial banks cannot afford to lend long. It is not a matter of unwillingness; it is simply how the architecture works,” he said.

Dialogue series

The dialogue series which created a platform to stimulate discussions on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) financing was the initiative of DBG and the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS).

It was on the theme: “Innovative finance for MSMEs in Ghana: From research insights to actionable policy.”

It also served as the launch of a report titled “Innovative Financing of MSMEs in Ghana: Demand–Supply Evidence and Policy Options,” which aimed to deepen understanding of financing challenges facing MSMEs.

Patient capital

Prof. Nsor-Ambala further explained that DBG was established precisely to fix such systemic constraints by offering the kind of patient capital the private sector needed to innovate, scale and withstand shocks.

He said the bank provided medium to long-term financing with tenures averaging seven years and extending to as much as 10 years—far beyond what traditional banks could offer.

The CEO said the real value of long-term financing lay in its ability to give businesses breathing room to take risks, build capacity and refine their business models without the constant pressure of repayment cycles.

He said that if the country wanted resilient firms capable of competing regionally and globally, then “closing the long-term capital gap must be treated as a structural priority, and not an afterthought.”

Breaking silos

The Dean of UGBS, Prof. Ernest Yaw Tweneboah-Koduah, said that the country’s development depended on breaking long-standing silos between academia, finance and policy.

“Too often, the worlds of policy, finance and academia operate in tandem, but today we are taking steps to fuse those silos into one holistic team,” he said.

The Dean said that only such deep collaboration, grounded in rigorous research, opened dialogue and shared responsibility could generate solutions that were technically sound, data-driven and workable in practice for a financial sector undergoing rapid transformation.

He added that true progress would come only when institutions “jointly frame the questions and co-own the research process rather than working in isolation”.

Research findings

For her part, the Head of Finance Department at UGBS, Prof Vera Fiador, said the study found that 50 per cent of MSMEs were credit-constrained, with each firm facing an average financing gap of about GH¢208,545, largely due to high interest rates, strict collateral demands and weak financial record-keeping, among businesses.

On the supply side, she said the research revealed that financial institutions viewed MSMEs as high-risk borrowers, maintained short-term loan tenures, and charged interest rates as high as 31–34 per cent, making long-term investment extremely difficult despite a general willingness to lend.

“The findings also showed that FinTech usage among MSMEs remained limited, mostly restricted to payments, while both MSMEs and financial institutions struggled with information gaps, trust issues, weak risk management, and a regulatory environment not yet fully aligned with innovative financing models,” Prof. Fiador added.