The Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) will receive support for its operations across the country from a $31.34 million grant from Ministry of Finance and the African Development Bank.

The project which will enhance women’s access to credit, financial literacy, and information sharing, with a focus on women-led Micro, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) will shore up the institutions activities and help deliver its mandate of providing micro loans to SMEs in the country.

In addition, the project will provide a credit facility to support women and youth significantly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic at affordable interest rates of 12% per annum.

The grant will also support MASLOC’s quest to build a robust digital infrastructure to support its operations across the country and make loan applications, processing, disbursements, and recoveries seamless.

With this grant MASLOC would receive funding from the AfDB to complete its loan management software (LMS), a digital infrastructure to support efficient loan disbursements and recoveries, training, and capacity building of over 550 staff across the country, and networking of all regional and district offices to the Head Office.

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Micro-Small and Medium businesses (MSMEs) and clients in rural places cannot be overstated. Access to this funding will remove most hurdles and support our customers regardless of their location, gender, credentials, or social standing.

The project dubbed ‘post-Covid-19 Skills Development and Productivity Enhancement Project’ (PSDPEP) would amongst others build the institutional capacity of MASLOC to promote entrepreneurship and job creation among youth and women operating MSMEs or in cooperatives.

Digitalisation of the Microfinance and Small loans Centre (MASLOC) loan management system is expected to create an estimated 20,000 indirect jobs through skills training, self-employment jobs and improved access to credit facilities. Additionally, this will provide for the institution an enabling environment to broaden its coverage and promote financial inclusion for the many unbanked individuals who makes up a vast majority of the population.

The $28.5 million grant from the AfDB with additional support of $2.84 million from the Government of Ghana (GoG) is a five-year agreement be implemented in seven regions of the country namely Greater Accra, Ashanti, Eastern, Bono, Northern, Central and upper west regions to support the restoration of livelihoods, income and employment opportunities and private sector development.

The project will be carried out in three components: skills development in higher education for strengthening the health sector, rebuilding youth and women livelihoods through entrepreneurship and job creation, and project management, will seek beneficiaries such as staff and clients of project implementing institutions, youth and women operating MSMEs and/or cooperatives, and the general Ghanaian population.

MASLOC intends to leverage the success of this unique initiative to reach out to more Developmental Finance Institutions to supplement our efforts in providing access to financing for all customer segments across sectors, particularly those in agriculture value chains, MSMEs, Youth and Women businesses, Co-operatives, and Trade Associations, as part of our ongoing strategy.

The Social Investment Fund (SIF), Ghana News Agency (GNA), University of Ghana (UoG), and the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre are among the PSDPEP implementation institutions.