Published: September 4, 2026
PAYNESVILLE — Small businesses across nine Liberian counties have drawn on a US$6 million credit line that is now fully deployed, with 358 loans extended by the second quarter of 2026, and Accelerate360 Liberia brought borrowers and lenders into the same room Thursday to widen the door for the businesses still outside it.
By Gibson Gee
The session, SME Finance Connect, fell on the second day of a three-day program that began Wednesday and ends Friday. It was built around the line of credit under the Liberia Investment, Finance and Trade Project and was designed to give small and medium-sized enterprises a clearer view of what financing exists, what lenders require and how to position a business to qualify.
What the facility offers
Andrew A. Tellewoyan, officer in charge of the development finance section at the Central Bank of Liberia, presented the financing component and said the US$6 million line of credit has been fully deployed through participating financial institutions. Of the 358 loans extended by the second quarter of 2026, 130 went to businesses outside Montserrado County, according to his presentation. The money has reached Montserrado, Nimba, Bong, Margibi, Grand Bassa, Grand Gedeh, Lofa, Grand Kru and Bomi counties.
The line of credit is part of the US$40 million Liberia Investment, Finance and Trade Project, a five-year initiative supported by the World Bank. Eligible micro, small and medium-sized enterprises can borrow up to US$100,000, repayable over one to five years with a grace period of up to a year, and at least half the loans are expected to be on-lent to women.
Seven financial institutions take part: Afriland First Bank, Liberia Enterprise Development Finance Company, Diaconia Microfinance, Mountain Dew, Fearless Women, Right Bank and Cititrust. They are the channel through which the financing reaches eligible businesses, and the session gave entrepreneurs the chance to hear directly what products are available and what each lender asks of a borrower.
Money is not the constraint
Prosper Doe Melomey, chief of party at Accelerate360 Liberia, said a national study last year covering 1,500 businesses across the country identified access to finance as one of the major constraints facing them, and cited the World Bank Enterprise Survey as finding that 40% of Liberian small and medium enterprises name limited access to finance as a major obstacle to growth.
“There is more money available to give than the request for those money,” Melomey said.
Melomey said businesses run into high interest rates, thin financial information, limited understanding of the lending process and difficulty keeping formal records. Without reliable records, he said, lenders cannot establish a business’s financial position, its capacity to repay or its creditworthiness, which is the gap Accelerate360’s work with entrepreneurs is meant to close.
Finance, then markets
Tarnue N. Jeke, deputy minister for administration at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said credit has to be matched by somewhere to sell, and urged businesses to position themselves for public procurement, where government contracts and supply chains can carry a financed business into real expansion.
“Access to market and finance is particularly very important,” Jeke said.
He cautioned against treating money as the finish line. “If you have funding … and you don’t know what to do with it, it’s just a waste of time,” he said.
Jeke told entrepreneurs to strengthen internal operations, keep accurate records, improve governance and build a clear business strategy before approaching a lender, and encouraged them to use the Finance Connect to put questions directly to the institutions in the room.
Closing the gap
Accelerate360 Liberia’s aim in convening lenders, government and business owners together is to lift the capacity of small enterprises while connecting them to financiers and to markets. The three-day program continues Friday with further discussions on strengthening Liberia’s private sector and creating pathways for small businesses to compete and grow.
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