Commerz Ladies, an association of the female staff of Commerz Savings and Loans, has been launched to empower corporate female executives and support the vulnerable in society.

Commerz Savings and Loans, a subsidiary of Nordcom Group, a fast growing financial conglomerate, was launched in February, 2017, with the aim of supporting small and medium enterprises in the country.

Executive Head of Finance and Treasury at Commerz, Efua Amoako Opoku, noted at the launch that the association will be building the business capacity of members while helping charities across the country.

“The essence of this is to empower women in business. We will be holding corporate workshops, retreats, seminars for our members on family and work-life balance while, at the same time, positioning the Commerz brand strategically,” she said.

Ms. Opoku added that the association will also be visiting orphanages to make donations and also support them in varied ways.

“We have charity projects. We will look out for the vulnerable in society and constantly support them. Our focus is to help children and women,” she said.

Commerz Savings and Loans has a strong workforce of about 33 staff with about 20-25 of them being women. At the management level, the women make up four out of 10 managers.

Commerz Savings and Loans, unveiled in February, 2017, is the latest entrant to the financial sector, seeking to deploy technological tools to attract more of the unbanked population into the banking sector. With the focus on the SME sector, Commerz has pledged to offer affordable credit to the SMEs, build their capacity and help them to grow into large companies.

With SMEs known as the catalyst for economic growth, income and employment, it is surprising that despite their contributions to economic growth they face challenges including absence of adequate and timely banking finance, limited capital and knowledge, non-availability of suitable technology, and many more.

Ms. Opoku noted that Commerz was born out of the quest to serve the SME market, because there are so many companies that need financial help tailored to suit their needs.

“We are doing the real banking by bringing them in to include them and that is what financial inclusion is. We are not going to play at the high end but the middle and lower end of the market because they need the loans and resources to change their fortunes,” she added.

The Nordcom Group also include Nordea Capital, an investment bank and ESA Pensions, a pensions firm.