Financial institutions, businesses – particularly microfinance companies and savings and loans – have been urged to get deep consultancy into proper credit management and debt recovery before they commence business, so that in the event of any debt default recovery can be seamlessly done.
Poor documentation such as weaknesses and loopholes in documentation constitute some of the major challenges debt recovery firms like Experts Consult face in their day-to day operation, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Experts Consult Limited, Nathaniel Johnson, told the B&FT in an interview.
Experts Consult is incorporated under the country’s companies’ law, and is engaged in the service of debt recovery, credit management, risk and monitoring, revenue collection, execution of court judgments and process service.
Their offices are located in Accra and Kumasi and affiliated to law firms in all other regions of the country, as well as the International Credit Exchange (I.C.E.). Basically, the firm was established to assist institutions, companies and individuals recover their hard-earned cash that could have been lost or written-off as bad debt.
Many companies in the country are saddled with huge debt portfolios but lack the requisite capacity to recover such debts. Therefore, Experts Consult was purposely established to professionally handle these services of debt recovery for corporate institutions and individuals, allowing them the freedom to concentrate on their core businesses.
Speaking from his Accra office which offers a breathtaking view of the city, Mr. Johnson noted that credit is the bloodline of every economy; therefore, it is extremely important to conduct business on credit in some instances.
However, in this part of the world, he observed, people do not like doing business on credit because when business is done on credit people almost always have trouble recovering such monies. This pushes people to do business on a cash basis, which translates to low sales and revenue – hence, poor cash flow.
Therefore, Experts Consult looked into the issue and realised that to get people to do business on credit requires professionals to take up the issue of debt recovery. In this regard, Experts Consult is managed by professionals in entrepreneurship, administration, finance and law, who provide a one-stop shop for debt recovery services which encompass pre-legal, legal and post-legal approaches.
Johnson noted that credit has the potential of improving sales, and that is why the firm was established to educate the general public and enable more people to do business on credit. He pointed out that the firm also trains people how to administer better and proper credit, since when credit is advanced to people who are not creditworthy the recovery process becomes – daunting even for companies like Expert Consult Ltd.
Experts’ legal department has 12 qualified lawyers who are all members of the Ghana Bar Association specialised in debt recovery. They are assisted by dedicated court officers.
Similarly, Experts’ Process service department is attached to the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and the various circuit and district courts in Ashanti Region. It is designed to undertake the service of court processes.
Experts Consult Ltd. is presently the country’s biggest and arguably best-performing debt recovery firm, and probably the first African Debt Recovery company to be enrolled to the International Credit Exchange – an international body networking Recovery firms in the world covering over 100 countries, delivering uniform standards of excellence and compliance worldwide.
