The Managing Director of Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited (CBG), Dr Naomi Wolali Kwetey, has announced a dedicated financing initiative for entrepreneurs with disabilities, saying t
The report indicates that the Managing Director of Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited (CBG), Dr Naomi Wolali Kwetey, has announced a dedicated financing initiative for entrepreneurs with disabilities, saying the bank intends to broaden access to formal credit while maintaining responsible lending standards.
It further notes that dr Kwetey made the announcement on Friday, September 11, when she addressed CBG’s Disability Conference at the Du Bois Centre, Cantonments, via Zoom.
The conference brought together CBG’s Deputy Managing Directors, members of Executive Management, representatives of the Korklu Foundation, bank employees, beneficiaries and members of the media.
Dr Kwetey stated CBG viewed financial inclusion as a strategic responsibility and that the bank had to recognise the economic potential of people across all sections of society.
She stated financial institutions had an important role to play in converting that potential into sustainable economic participation.
Dr Kwetey stated CBG’s intervention began with the onboarding of 119 participants under its PWD Financial Inclusion Programme.
As part of the programme, the bank funded the minimum opening balances for participants’ accounts and granted approved service-fee waivers.
The measures were intended to encourage beneficiaries to use their accounts and reduce some of the immediate barriers associated with entering the formal banking system.
However, Dr Kwetey stated CBG recognised that meaningful financial inclusion had to extend beyond account ownership.
The new loan initiative is therefore designed to provide PWD entrepreneurs with a pathway into formal credit, enabling them to access financing under terms that take account of some of the challenges faced by businesses operating outside the conventional formal economy.
Dr Kwetey rejected an approach that viewed persons with disabilities principally as beneficiaries of support.
She described them as entrepreneurs, employers, producers, professionals and customers whose aspirations were no different from those of other business owners.
Yet, she noted, conventional financial products did not always accommodate the barriers encountered by PWD entrepreneurs when entering or navigating the formal financial system.
“Their ambitions are not different from those of other business owners,” she said.
