The Amenfiman Rural Bank Plc is set to grant a loan facility of up to 400,000 cedis to support small and micro-scale enterprises to boost local productivity amidst the prevailing economic difficulties. 

The groundbreaking initiative comes as the bank records an unprecedented total deposit of a little over GH₵1 billion as of the end of June 2024 as well as other financial support programs from the government. 

Under its “AMERB Donkomi Promo”, the rural bank is targeting investments into over 2,500 local women and youth-led businesses as part of activities streamlined for economic recovery. 

After closing 2023 with a customer deposits of 780 million cedis, the Amenfiman Rural Bank at the beginning of this year set a 1 billion cedi deposit target.  

The bank focused on expanding its client base and provided support to augment the business operations of clients.  

The historic record represents an impressive growth of 70.03% from the same period in June 2023, from approximately GH₵631 million to a little over GH₵1 billion in June 2024.  

Following the unprecedented growth, the bank is setting aside 500 million cedis through its Donkomi promo to provide financial support and investments to micro and small enterprises in the country. 

Chief Executive of the Bank, Dr. Alexander Asmah explains the move aligns seamlessly with the Bank’s vision to empower the MSME sector, driving growth and aiding the recovery national economy. 

 “We don’t want to place so much emphasis in placing money in government securities because that itself doesn’t grow the economy, so we want to focus on the certain sectors of the economy that bring growth and those are the micro, small and medium enterprises,” he said.

The bank is also sourcing funds to empower businesses through the Ministry of Finance’s micro, small and medium enterprises growth and opportunity program and the Innovate and Grow Fund of the Development Bank Ghana for MSMEs. 

Access to flexible and affordable credit facilities is a bane to many growing businesses. 

Without the usual stringent collateral requirements and at exceptionally low interest rate of 2.5% monthly, many businesses especially women and youth-led ones, are expected to receive financial support to increase productivity and stay buoyant. 

“Most people do not have collaterals when securing loans. This is a big constrain. We are trying to break that gap. To access these loans, they only need consistently work with us where we will spread their loan repayment over a period of time - daily. You only need to have at least 20% of the capital you need to invest in your business and the bank will provide the rest to support the business,” he said.

He continued that: “we are focusing on women and the youth because personally I believe that if a woman is empowered economically, there’s always peace at home. They are able to cater for their families. And this is crucial to us as a bank”.

Supporting businesses thrive in the current economic climate remains a priority to the bank as they restrategize to extend services to the unbanked and underbanked individuals and businesses. 

Some customers of the bank shared how support from the bank has facilitated their profit gains to expand their business and recruit more workers. 

“I was initially saving with another bank, but they couldn’t help me buy a shop to extend my business. I told a worker of Amenfiman bank that if they able to help me secure the shop, I will sac and work with the bank. Lo and behold, they bought it for me and now I have been able to recruit more workers for my business,” a client said.