Every year, hundreds of Cameroonian and African companies see their financing requests rejected — not because their project is bad, but because their file doesn't speak the right language.
What is bankability?
Bankability is a company's ability to convince a financial institution to grant it a loan or an investment. It is not just about your turnover. It encompasses the strength of your governance, the readability of your financial flows, and the credibility of your management team.
The three pillars of a bankable file
1. Financial transparency
A banker doesn't finance an idea. They finance a reality expressed in numbers. Your last three balance sheets, your cash flow statements, your solvency ratios — everything must be clear, consistent and presented in a format an analyst can audit in under an hour.
If your accounts are kept in an unstructured spreadsheet, or with an accountant you see once a year, start there.
2. Clarity of need
"I need money to grow my business" is not a financing need. It's an aspiration.
A bankable need is framed like this: "I am requesting 45 million FCFA to acquire two production units, allowing me to increase my monthly capacity by 60%, with repayment planned over 36 months thanks to contracts already signed."
Precision is the key. Every figure must be justifiable, every assumption documented.
3. The collateral structure
The question every banker asks while reading your file: what happens if it doesn't work?
Anticipate that question. Identify the assets you can pledge, explore alternative guarantees — guarantee funds, mutual surety, investment-services firms (SGI) — and build them into your file before you are asked.
The 90-day rule
At Mboa Make, we have found that a serious company can turn a rejected file into an accepted one in 90 days, provided it works on the right levers at the same time.
Those 90 days break down as follows:
- Month 1 — Accounting and financial restructuring, identifying the available collateral
- Month 2 — Drafting the file, financial modelling, preparing the 3-to-5-year projections
- Month 3 — Approaching the targeted institutions, negotiating terms, closing
This is not a magic promise. It's a structured, iterative process that demands real involvement and total transparency on your part.
Why most files fail
In our experience, drawn from dozens of files we have supported: the vast majority of financing refusals are avoidable. They result from a lack of preparation, not a lack of potential.
The companies that secure financing are not necessarily the most profitable. They are the ones that prepared to answer the questions before they were asked.
Book a meeting with our team. We will assess your situation and tell you exactly where you stand.
