The Vice-President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has launched the Integrated ICT System that automates all the operations of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) in the country.
He said this is an information technology solution that will address payment and the settlement challenges of MASLOC and bring an air of efficiency into its operations.
The platform is a collaboration between MASLOC and the ARP Apex Bank, and designed by Eban Capital – the software provider that automates end to end processes of credit management, loan applications, credit assessment, disbursement of loans, loan repayments and monitoring and reporting, all to make loan accessible.
To apply, applicants need a business name, TIN, digital address, passport picture and a valid identity card, among others.
The Vice President commended the board and CEO of MASLOC, Stephen Amoah, for the move because it is in line with the president’s vision to digitise government as many operations as possible, and all aspects of the economy to make Ghana the most business-friendly economy.
He said before COVID-19 government had embarked on aggressive digitization, but the pandemic has reaffirmed the president’s position that building a digital economy is the way go, adding that “the COVID-19 has been destructive in many ways, but destructive events can catalyse change for the better”.
He said business will not be as usual after this crisis, and there will be increased reliance and confidence in technology with online payment systems radicalized – leaving institutions with no option but to subscribe to digital service delivery.
Dr. Bawumia said Ghana is on course as far as digitisation is concerned, and that the architecture Ghana is putting in place will prepare the country well for a post COVID-19 global economy. He said MASLOC is poised to effectively deliver on its objective by providing funds for SMEs, especially the unbanked customers who form a greater percentage of the economy’s informal sector, and also positions MASLOC for the ‘next world order’ of service delivery.
He explained that this will also help enhance government’s efforts at formalising the informal sector of the economy, and commended the partnership with ARB Apex Bank because a lot of the SMEs are very much in the informal sector and still unbanked. “This system not only helps us reach the unbanked but also to formalise the economy, because it will require a TIN number and digital address among others; and the digitisation will also bring more efficiency into the operations of MASLOC.”
