Ghana Commercial Bank rescues SMEs

GCB rescues SMEs
By Stephen Odoi-Larb i& Masawudu Kunateh

Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) has re-launched its ‘Kudi Nkosuo’ for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country. Kudi Nkosuo is the Bank’s savings and credit product designed to grow businesses in the informal sector of the economy.
Speaking at the launch, the Managing Director of the Bank, Lawrence Adu-Mante intimated that the main idea behind the re-launch of the micro finance scheme was to extend a helping hand to traders, market women, artisans, hawkers, shoe-makers and other small-scale operators to develop and expand their businesses to enable them contribute to the socio-economic development of their communities.
He added, “another motive for the re-launch of Kudi Nkosuo is in our determination to help create more employment opportunities, reduce poverty and help solve problems of unemployment.”
He further noted that the product would enable beneficiaries to acquire the necessary technologies, equipment and machineries for their operations. He stressed that “this would enhance their productivity, increase their rate of output, competitiveness and profitability.”
Consequently, Mr. Adu-Mante indicated that beneficiaries would repay their loans, expand operations, employ more resources and thereby apply for bigger loans. This process, he said, would create more businesses as they expand their loan portfolio and enable them to render other ancillary services more profitably.
The MD disclosed that 60 energetic, smart and young men and women have been trained to attend and nurture the scheme’s businesses, saying “savings earn a customer a benefit and qualify him or her for a loan after contributing consistently for six months”.
Meanwhile, the processes for accessing funds under the Kudi Nkosuo have been streamlined. Under the current circumstance the value of the credit has been reviewed whilst strong communication and promotional strategies have been adapted to suit customers’ expectation.
The Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Prof. George Gyan-Baffour, who performed the re-launch commended the bank for the introduction of the product since it identifies the potential of the Ghanaian, no matter his/her status in the society.
He thus advised Ghanaians who would be benefiting from the Kudi Nkosuo to go into agriculture (food crop production or animal husbandry) in order to help address the current food crisis that has hit the globe.
Prof. Gyan-Baffour asked Ghanaians to take advantage of the structures laid down by the government in order to lift themselves from economic hardships that have bedeviled the country.