PFounder of Women’s Trust, a non-profit organisation, Ms Dana Dakin, is advocating a review of the processes for the selection of beneficiaries of Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) funds to reduce fraud incidents.
According to her, the scheme was fraught with challenges because most beneficiary businesses had not been time-tested and “nurtured from the grassroots” to efficiently manage funds accessed for growth.
“When you give monies at the top level, you are likely to pick the wrong candidates; you choose the flashy ones, those who look good and talk big so it’s important the scheme creates a robust system of evaluating the businesses to know their operations on the ground.
“MASLOC should operate a bottom-up approach and not top-down,” she stressed in an interview with the Ghanaian Times on Thursday.
Noting the significance of such loans particularly for businesses run by women, Ms Dakin asked that the scheme broaden its scope in training and coaching women at the grassroots to expand their trade.
“Most women in the informal sector are unable to reach the national level of accessing the MASLOC loans because they mostly do not have the courage to do so,” she observed.
“We need to create a realistic plan to empower and coach women on their businesses, giving them the relevant information and building networks. A sustained one-on-one training programme is key as we put through leadership programmes to enable them realise their strengths and weaknesses in handling their finances,” the founder who has assisted over 1000 women with soft loans through her organisation noted.
Lauding the Bank of Ghana on its latest action in ‘pruning’ the financial industry, Ms Dakin however asked the regulator to “adjust its parameters to the different types of financial because the smaller ones need to be measured differently from the larger ones”.
“Regulation must spur growth in a positive way for the country as a whole and the BOG must be careful not to create rigidity,” she advised.
With over 200 young females on scholarships at different educational levels under her organisation, Ms Dakin urged the Diaspora community to support development in Ghana and the African continent on the whole.
“We are funding the Ga North Progressive Mayors Fund in collaboration with the Municipal Chief Executive, Gertrude Ankrah, who was once a beneficiary of the Women’s Trust to fund small ideas, entrepreneurial skills among others to build a brighter future young people,” she said.
By Abigail Annoh
