Reputable Liberian business activist Saye Biyue is urging President-elect Joseph Boakai’s administration to prioritize funding for business-aid organizations in the country as it gets ready for a new democratic period of governance.
According to the Liberian Business Activist, increasing the number of jobs created in the private sector depends critically on the new Boakai administration implementing subsidies for business-aids institutions, such as large credit unions.
In addition to being the president of In God We Trust Multi-Purpose Credit Union, Biyue feels that the current administration has not done enough to support loan providers, particularly credit union institutions that have non-performing loans.
He said that the new Unity Party Government had to acknowledge the important roles played by credit union organizations and give them the resources they need to keep enabling micro businesses for economic growth.
“If our new government can subsidize some of those major credit unions, that have had non-performing loans, it will help revamp and even increase the number of loans we give to people.
“Because the loans we give in the private sector like the credit union members are helping for job creation. When you give a loan to a business person that has a store, that store owner may employ two to three persons that work along with them in the story”, he added..
Speaking to a large group of media on Tuesday, January 2, 2024, Biyue pointed out that credit union institutions faced significant difficulties as a result of previous and present administrations’ partiality and lack of support.
He emphasized that his organization is only one of several credit union establishments that battle to sustainably expand refundable loan assistance to small, medium, and large enterprises across the nation in the absence of funding from the federal government.
In the meanwhile, Biyue emphasized that despite the difficulties posed by his and other business-aid lending organizations, an organization of this kind is dependent on the collection of dues, registration fees, and loan savings for running funds—a task he described as being nearly impossible to do.
“We don’t receive a subsidy, we say most of what we used is collected from our members through either dues, registration fees, membership fees, purchase shares and these are barely our sources of income”, he said.
Saye Biyue’s appeal is noteworthy since it comes just a couple of weeks before President-elect Boakai assumes office in Liberia.
