Lawrence Agyinsam
GHANA EXPORT–Import Bank (GEXIM) – recently won the 2019 City of Karlsruhe Outstanding Sustainable Project Financing Award in Karlsruhe, Germany.
The Karlsruhe Sustainable Finance Awards honours financial institutions and organizations, with significant contributions to the field of sustainable financing.
GEXIM won the award after submitting a detailed Project Cycle Financing Support extended to Juaben Oil Mills Co. Ltd, based in Juaben in the Ashanti Region.
The award, therefore, recognized the outstanding success in long-term financing of the Juaben Oil Mills Co. Ltd as exemplary industrial and commercial company that is currently benefitting the local community, protecting the environment and ensuring reliable return to investors and lenders.
The award underscores the bank’s commitment to change the development banking landscape through innovative financing to consistently finance agro processing projects that contribute to the socio-economic development of Ghana.
Lawrence Agyinsam, Chief Executive Officer of the bank, received the award on behalf of his outfit. He said the bank had lined up strategies aimed at stimulating the interest of local manufactures and empowering them to grow their businesses as well as connecting them to the global market space.
He said about 50% of workers employed by the company are women and this is to ensure that they are economically empowered to provide support for their families and the communities.
He further said that the move is in line with GEXIM’s mandate to support local Ghanaian businesses to be globally competitive, saying Juaben Oil Mills Co. Ltd, has the capacity to serve as a training school for potential entrepreneurs in commercial palm oil production.
Mr. Agyinsam, who is currently the Honorary President of Global Network of Export-import Banks and Development Finance Institutions, G-NEXID, disclosed that the most innovative feature of the Juaben Oil Co. Ltd. is the use of palm kernel shells for fuel production to generate electricity for the factory and some parts of the Juaben community.
GEXIM is a corporate body established by the Ghana Export–Import Bank Act, 2016 (Act911) and has its object to support directly or indirectly trade between Ghana and other countries and build Ghana’s capacity and competitiveness in the international market place.