Pan-African Savings and Loans Company Ltd. (Pan-African) today launched the MAMA programme to deliver the resources Ghanaian women need to succeed in business and to bridge a gap in financial inclusion that largely overlooks unbanked women, small and medium-size women business owners, smallholder farmers, and youth.
The innovative MAMA approach combines savings, loans, and payment products with free non-financial services to support women clients, including business skills training and eHealth and wellness services.
“A MAMA woman is fearless and bold. With the MAMA products, we want our women customers to know that we think of them in a holistic manner,” remarked Mrs. Linda Naykene, Head of Corporate Affairs, Research and Customer Experience at Pan-African. “Apart from giving MAMA women the financial support to grow their business and a place for them to save their money, we are carefully serving their needs economically, socially, emotionally, and health-wise. We understand that a healthy and financially adept client base can better grow their businesses, and will generate new clients for us through referrals.”
Pan-African completed the MAMA initiative with technical assistance from CapitalPlus Exchange (CapPlus) through FIRST+ (Financial Institution Resilience and STrengthening). CapPlus’ partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, Bank of Ghana, and the Ghana Microfinance Institution Network (GHAMFIN) is aimed at increasing finance to small businesses for the purpose of job creation, especially for women and youth.
To complement the financial services offerings, MAMA women may access numerous skills-building opportunities such as digital literacy and business management training, savings and investment planning, and networking. MAMA women also benefit from practical guidance such as fire detection and prevention training, and access to a suite of free healthcare services including health talks, screenings and telemedicine, and reduced cost of pharmaceutical and laboratory services.
“We are particularly proud to offer our staff cutting-edge training on gender-based violence, to equip them with first-hand knowledge to better position them to refer women customers who may need support,” noted Mrs. Naykene.
Pan-African is among 24 financial institutions selected to participate in FIRST+, and it reaffirmed its strategic decision to offer its women customers a gender-focused programme after attending a FIRST+ gender finance workshop where Mrs. Elsie Addo-Awadzi, 2nd Deputy Governor, Bank of Ghana, and Ms. Rosy Fynn, the Mastercard Foundation’s Ghana Country Director, challenged the financial institutions to increase their financial services to women. Afterwards, a market survey conducted with CapPlus unveiled gaps and opportunities to serve Ghanaian women. Pan-African subsequently concluded the bundling of the MAMA suite of products and services, and delivered training to staff from Pan-African’s 16 locations in skills such as gender intelligence, loan management, marketing, and customer service.
“When we started working together under FIRST+, Pan-African was already working on a women-focused agriculture business product that paired financial and non-financial services. Our market survey highlighted the need to expand beyond the agricultural segment to an institution-wide program for every woman in the Ghana market, and the MAMA programme fills that need,” said Ms. Lynn Pikholz, CEO of CapitalPlus Exchange. “That gender awareness focus is a real mindset change for Pan-African.”
MAMA products serve five specific segments of working women: MAMA Business for business owners in all sectors; MAMA Agri for women in agriculture and agricultural value chain businesses such as crop and vegetable farming, and food processing; MAMA Home offering saving and investing for female home managers and caregivers; MAMA Dwumadi for women workers in the informal sector such as workers in hair salons, supermarkets, small shopkeepers, and others; and Young MAMA aimed at young women entrepreneurs or those who aspire to be one such as higher education graduates.
“Pan-African Savings and Loans aims to provide access to credit, savings, and payments in a convenient and beneficial manner and thus support financial inclusion and increase of wealth and employment in Ghana. With our launch of the MAMA programme, we are excited to see the women empowered to impact the home, society, and the country,” explained Ms. Emelia Atta-Fynn, Managing Director of Pan-African Savings and Loans. “The assistance from the FIRST+ program through CapPlus helped us to bundle the needed service and products and elevate our team’s skills to deliver the best customer service to our MAMA clients, and ensure that we deliver the greatest possible benefit to women in our community.”
