Absa Bank Ghana has announced a ¢2.5 million grant to support businesses in the Fintech and Agritech industry.

The initiative is part of the Absa Young Africa Works programme, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, which is designed to build the capacity of 5,000 SMEs and create 50,000 jobs for the youth in Ghana in the next five years.

The ¢2.5 million grant will primarily target businesses that are either at their ideation or up-scaling stage, including businesses using technology to improve financial services like lending, payments, insurance, investments, and education (financial literacy).

Successful businesses must be more than three years old, tech-savvy and with owners who are between 24 to 40 years old.

The grant also compliments Absa Bank’s bouquet of products and services tailored to provide comprehensive support for startups and SMEs, including free banking services, collateral-free loans for SMEs and capacity-building programmes.

Commenting on the initiative, Managing Principal of Retail and Business Banking (RBB) at Absa Bank, Kobla Nyaletey said, “Absa Bank Ghana is a strong believer in the potential of Ghanaian businesses, including startups, SMEs and large local corporates, to drive sustainable economic growth.

"We consider it an important social obligation to support and provide the type of capital appropriate for these businesses. 

"I am extremely happy that together with the Mastercard Foundation, we can deploy ¢2.5m to strongly push forward young businesses using technology to solve the challenges that confront our economy.

"We are determined to continuously create solutions and products that bring the possibilities of our customers, clients, and stakeholders to life in a sustainable way and this is one of them.”

To apply for the grant, businesses have to visit the Absa Bank Ghana website and submit their proposals. Successful businesses will not only have access to ¢200,000 each but will also enjoy training, business development and advisory services from Absa Bank and the Mastercard Foundation.