Madina MP Supports 182 Madina Market Women With Soft Loans

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Madina Constituency, Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface in partnership with First Ghana Savings and Loans Limited has supported one hundred and eight-two market women in the La-Nkwatanang Municipality of the Greater Accra Region with soft loans to boost their business activities in the municipality.

Giving a breakdown to the media at the training and disbursement of funds at Madina -Social Welfare; a suburb in Accra, Alhaji Sulemana Alhassan Atakpo, who is an aide to the sitting MP said eighty market women were supported with an amount of one thousand Ghana Cedis each.

Forty of the women were supported with two thousand Ghana Cedis each and twenty women supported with three thousand Ghana Cedis each he added.

Thirty and twelve he claimed were given four thousand Ghana Cedis each and five thousand Ghana Cedis respectively.

He enumerated that overall one hundred market women were supported with a whooping amount of over forty thousand Ghana Cedis and more.

'It is estimated that the number will jump to two hundred women in the municipality to boost their businesses in the area.''

He explained that per the agreement between the MP who is also the Minister of State at the Office of the Vice President will guarantee the loan with parts of his Common Fund allocations from the Municipal Assembly for the bank to facilitate the disbursement and training of the women.

He explained that the MP upon assumption of power in 2017 commissioned a research into some of the challenges confronting many of the women in the municipality.

''It in the process that it came to the fore, that many of the women operating in the arguably the fastest growing open market in the West African sub-region are in dire need of financial assistance to grow their petty trading business'' he maintained.

Upon careful study of the research report, a team was commissioned by the MP and supervised by the Constituency executives of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) to engage with the managers of First Ghana Savings and Loans Limited to fashion out some assistance for the women in the municipality he added.

He said the as part of the training exercise, the women were taken through book and records keeping to enable them document their all expenditures for the day in compliance with the bank's rules and regulation.

According to him, the decision was taken to support the women because the MP believes that women are the backbone of every family and that when the woman's business is boosted, the whole family is supported.

He said the MP has been worried about the current situation of the women in the Madina market and its surrounding areas leading to many of them being swindled by some unscrupulous money doublers operating in the market.

He called on beneficiaries to continue to pray for the president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his Vice Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia to gain more wisdom in bringing transformation to the economy of the country which was left in tatters by the then ruling National Democratic Congress.

He said some of the fruits of the prudent management of the economy has led to moneys belonging to the people saving with the seven collapsed banks to be safeguarded to save lives in the country.

On his part; Mr. Iddi Wor-Dan, the Loans and Investment Manager of First Ghana Savings and Loans Limited said the purpose of the training was to ensure many of the women are able to pay the money to benefit more women in the municipality.

According to him, the women will be taking through some form of financial literacy processes to enable them keep records to better manage the funds that will be advanced to them by the bank.

He said the terms for the repayment for the loan will be rolled out in a form 'Susu' scheme for the women not to feel it when paying for the loan.

He explained that bank's sales persons will be tasked to visit the beneficiaries on daily basis to collect daily payments to enable more women in the area benefit from the exercise by the MP.