OVER the past month or so, the economy finally seems to be opening back up — hurray! It's awesome news, especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which were hit hard by the pandemic. But now that business is picking up again, SMEs that have been in survival mode for the last two years are faced with a new problem — how can they ramp up operations fast enough to take advantage of how fast the economy is opening up?

As someone who works for a loans company, I'll be 100 percent honest with you — loans can be a huge help for businesses that are growing very fast. Loans can help you serve more customers faster, negotiate better terms with your suppliers and generally make managing cash flows a lot easier. The big 'but' here is this: But how do you know when a business growth opportunity is worth the cost of taking on a loan?