Basic business management — or lack of it — is a major barrier to small- and medium-sized enterprises securing financing in Africa, TheGuardian reports.

“You’re not going to get credit if you can’t draw up a business plan, if you can’t do bookkeeping (or) if you can’t market your services,” said Daniel Mobley, Standard Chartered Bank’s head of corporate affairs in Africa.

In response, Standard Chartered partnered with business services firm PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) to offer a six-week management training course to SME owner-managers in Kenya and Ghana.

The U.K.-listed lender is aggressively increasing financing to African small- and medium-sized enterprises, according to TheGuardian.

Standard Chartered is a conventional bank in many ways, but differs from its peers in one important area — its focus on SMEs, the drivers of a healthy economy, TheGuardian reports.

As one of Africa’s largest providers of finance and lending services, more than 90 percent of Standard Chartered’s income and profits come from Africa, Asia and the Middle East, according to its website.

But the bank’s share price has struggled lately, mainly in response to investor concerns about flat growth in emerging markets (mostly in Asia).

Commercial banks get the jitters when there’s a lack of borrowing data, TheGuardian reports. Africa lacks the kind of credit reference agencies that large lenders rely on elsewhere. Ugandan and Kenyan authorities both sought advice from Standard Chartered to turn this around. Both now have national credit bureaus of their own – a trend Mobley hopes will continue elsewhere.

The bank commissioned an independent study published in February. The report confirmed that for every $1 million lent to small businesses in Ghana and Zambia, $3 million is created in salaries, taxes and profits.

The report recommended enhanced services to SMEs, many of which cannot get financing against contracts or accounts receivable. Also on the suggested to-do list: working closer with donor agencies to leverage private capital for Africa’s small businesses.

SMEs drive any healthy economy, according to the report. Nowhere is that more evident than Africa, which had the world’s fastest economic growth rate in 2013. The faster SMEs grow, most analysts agree, the faster Africa will develop.

Countries where banking is least developed are where Standard Chartered’s SME clients do best, said Marianne Mwaniki, the bank’s head of social and economic impact.

“In markets where credit is difficult to find, once SMEs do have access, they increase their
productivity significantly,” Mwaniki said.

The bank claims to help bring around $10.7 billion into Sub-Saharan Africa each
year, equivalent to 1.2 percent of annual gross domestic product and 1.9 million jobs.

Standard Chartered recently promised to increase its annual lending to SMEs by 45 percent over the next five years. That means around $3 billion should find its way to Africa’s small business sector, Mobley said.

It’s not charity, though. More SMEs mean more banking services. To increase its share in the SME market, the bank has been adding to its product portfolio. This includes SME-specific treasury capabilities, which promise to facilitate local currency payments for small companies doing business overseas. The bank also launched Straight2Bank, an award-winning online banking portal designed with SMEs in mind.