‘Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world’ pledged Nelson Mandela. As we all know, investing in good quality education is a key necessity for the sustained development and welfare of society.

Unfortunately, with the spread of Covid-19, the sector has been one of the most impacted. Amongst the many policies, government had to introduce to limit the spread of the virus was the closure of all levels of schools back in April 2020.

The consequences of such a measure have not only affected students but also dramatically impacted the economic activity of the sector.

To support the actors contributing to Ghana’s education, Advans has been tailoring its approach to lessen their financial burden throughout the entire year.

Around 125 schools in Greater Accra, Kumasi, Tamale and Ho have benefited from various crisis mitigation strategies.

From proposing a Grace Period from March 2020 to January 2021 with nearly zero extra cost to individual assessment and tailor-made support including loan rescheduling and refinancing top ups.

Advans strived to constantly monitor the school’s situation to ensure their business continuity and maintain the quality level of the education that these institutions offer to thousands of students.

To broaden its support also to parents and students, Advans introduced a Back-to-School Campaign back in October 2020.

This product meant to encourage the act of savings amongst the general public and clients towards their wards school fees in view of the re-opening of schools in January 2021.

Subscribers of the Back to School Campaign were given instant cashback on initial deposit, an attractive interest rate with a pending upward adjustment for parents who would want to continue afterwards and the giveaway of free stationery items to 20 top depositors of all branches worth ¢10,000 in total, items which were purchased from one of its own clients.

Thanks to the Back to School Promo, more than 1,220 new savings accounts were created.

Speaking in line with this, the Deputy CEO, Francis Owiredu, who addressed the media emphasised that “it was Advans responsibility and required duty to support and protect the businesses of their clients by providing a meaningful alternative access to funds for their kids school fees and not divert business loans to meet these needs or take funds from their businesses”.

The DCEO insisted on the importance of developing the habit of saving for schools fees in order to prevent last-minute solutions coming at a high cost and disrupting their businesses.

Last week the Management of the institution called the top 20 depositors of each branch and surprised them at their various business centres with free stationery goodies.

The Back-to-School Campaign has come to stay and Advans is already developing new innovative products to keep supporting the educational sector.