By Deborah Asantewaah SARFO
Pan-African Savings and Loans, a subsidiary of Ecobank Ghana, has reintroduced its group loans product – ‘The Mama Club Group Loans’ – designed in response to the unique financial needs of women, offering them a sustainable credit facility to transform their lives and communities.
The reintroduction of Mama Club Group Loans has been made possible through a strategic collaboration with GIZ.
It has provided technical guidance, staff capacity building and funding for the product’s communication strategy, ensuring its successful rollout. This initiative is proudly funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
Addressing the gathering at the launch, Managing Director of Pan-AfricaN Savings and Loans, Emelia Desiree Atta-Fynn, expressed confidence in the product’s ability to address the challenges women face in accessing financial services, adding that it reinforces the bank’s commitment to financial inclusion.
“In recognition of the challenges faced by women at the bottom of the pyramid in accessing financial services – obtaining adequate collateral, having a good credit history, lack of financial and digital literacy among others – we are convinced that our revamped group loans methodology will address some of these challenges, if not all,” she said.
She noted that the Mama product provides financial support at an attractive interest rate with flexible repayment terms and offers a rebate of up to seven percent on interest for good loan repayment.
The Gender Programme Lead for Pan-African Savings and Loans, Sarah Annam, noted that the initiative comes with flexible conditions offering women the opportunity to access finance up to about GH¢5,000 without a collateral or guarantor.
She explained that requirements and processes involved in accessing the loans have been made much easier, adding that any group of women with a minimum of five and maximum of 15 people in an economically active business that falls within the MSMEs are eligible for this offer.
Speaking on behalf of Dr. Christian Jahn, Programme Head of PFS at GIZ-Ghana, the Component Manager on PFS, Cynthia Odonkor, underscored the initiative as a testament to their belief in the power of women to drive economic transformation, stressing that “empowered women create empowered opportunities, leading to sustainable development and prosperity”.
