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0 bags. Now I regularly buy 20 bags and I have moved into wholesale business, selling to other traders in the market.'

Mohammed Malipura who is the owner of Electronics Repair Shop, Dar-es-Salaam, said

'When I joined PRIDE Tz I thought I will be able to get any amount I needed, but that was not the case, as a new member has to start from the stage of 50,000/= and keep graduating until the level of 5,000,000/=. This takes so long to get enough funds for big loan seekers.'

高利率——High Interest Rates
This was indicated by the clients of PRIDE TZ saying that the available funds were too expensive. As well as the interest rates that the borrower has to pay the lender, there are other direct and indirect costs incurred by the clients. These costs include registration fees, weekly compulsory savings and the loan application fee. All these add to the cost of obtaining the loan.

With the aim of fostering growth and to seize the opportunities of the unserved market various financial instutions are coming up with innovative lending approaches to tap the SMEs microfinancing needs. One of the approaches designed by one of them is explored hereunder and growth motives to SMEs is analysed;

The Experience of Akiba commercial bank
In pursuit of this goal, AKIBA pioneered many types of savings and microfinance loan products, with which it has supported various micro enterprise activities such as food vending, fish mongering, groceries, mitumbas (sale of second hand clothes), small scale diary cattle keeping, retail and distribution, tailoring, carpentry, masonry works, internet cafes, stationery shops, secretarial services, barber shops, hair salons, and small scale agriculture etc.

Vision and Mission:Â The vision of Akiba Commercial Bank (ACB) is to be the Tanzanian bank of choice in the provision of financial services to micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises. To realize this vision, the bank's mission is to provide appropriate microfinance services in the most efficient and sustainable manner possible while simultaneously embracing the social and environmental interests of all its stakeholders.

LOAN PRODUCTS
AKIBA currently offers several microfinance loan products each tailor-made to suit every type of our customer. In broad terms, the features revolve around both the traditional group and individual loan methodologies. Besides these, and by virtue of being a full-fledged commercial bank, it also able to offer consumer lending and corporate loans and overdrafts.

Group micro loans
Under this scheme, customers are able to borrow as little as TZS 20,000 and as much as TZS 5 million with no tangible securities other than their savings and the guarantees that members of the group give to each other. The total portfolio size currently stands at TZS 800 million. Total of 4000 customers have been served under this approach.

Individual micro loans
This is the product that serves many micro entrepreneurs in this country. Since its launch May 2001 in one branch, it has grown at a faster pace than any other loan product over the past two years, from just above 700 active loans in December 2001 to 4500 today.

Consumer Loans
As with the individual micro finance lending, AKIBA was the pioneer of consumer lending in Tanzania having introduced the produc