New Micro Credit Scheme Structured To Succeed-Co-ordinator

Government's recently inaugurated Micro-Finance and Small-Loans Scheme, is a well thought-out intervention to tackle poverty among skilled and creative people in the rural areas especially and must not be allowed to fail.

Togbe Dzamedzi Nyakpo III, Volta Regional Co-ordinator Micro-Finance and Small-Loans Centre, (MASLOC), the organisation incorporated to administer the programme, said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Ho last Thursday.

He said pre-inception evaluation of the weaknesses in similar interventions that collapsed as a result of huge bad debts were taken into consideration in building structures and processes for running the current programme.

Togbe Nyakpo said the 50-million dollar programme was providing financial and technical support to mainly people in the productive sector in the country and not those in the buy and sell business.

He said the programme should release the creative capacities of farmers, artisans, fashion, dressmakers and beauticians, food distributors and people in animal husbandry among others across the country to set up and sustain businesses that would ignite economic development of the rural areas.

Togbe Nyakpo said applicants could take between GH¢25 or 250,000 cedis to GH¢25,000 or 250 million cedis as groups and between GH¢1, 000 and 25,000 or 250 million cedis as individuals at concessionary interest rates especially for the groups.

Togbe Nyakpo the programme, which targets women, the disabled and youth required applicants to provide some information, including prospects and not comprehensive project reports for evaluation by the scheme's project officers to qualify for support.

On the perception that entrepreneurs in the Region were timid and often avoided credit for fear of defaulting, Togbe Nyakpo stressed that business everywhere was for the brave.

'Business is risk taking. You take risks, knowing you are shrewd, skillful and transparent manager, capable of inspiring people to work for you to make it,' he stated.

Togbe Nyakpo said, response to the programme in the Region so far had been overwhelming but did no disclose number of projects approved.