Hajia Abibata Shanni Mahama Zakariah
The Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) says it has recovered over GH¢16 million from its loan defaulters.
Hajia Abibata Shanni Mahama Zakariah, Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MASLOC, who disclosed this during the just-ended 5th edition of the South America-Africa-Middle East-Asia Women Summit (SAMEAWS) organised by the Centre for Economic and Leadership Development (CELD) at the Shangri-La Hotel in Dubai, said MASLOC money is not a free gift from government.
According to her, some people who received loan facilities from MASLOC erroneously thought they could squander them and not repay.
She revealed that efforts were still being made by management to recover the remaining debts from defaulters to enable MASLOC offer support to people who were in need, especially women.
Abibata Shanni Mahama Zakariah observed further that some women need as little as GH¢500 to sustain or start up their own businesses but could not get help, hence the provision of such services by MASLOC.
Management of MASLOC, she added, was prepared to support women with loans, since women more often than not were reliable in repayment of loans.
Hajia Zakaria observed that MASLOC is forming strategic alliances with other government agencies like the Ministry for Gender, Children and Social Protection, to offer support to the caterers under the Ghana School Feeding Programme.
“Financial pressures on the family are mostly borne by women and this often makes them extremely busy on their subsistent activities of livelihood. For this reason, they are often unable to make the time to visit and take advantage of lending opportunities at their disposal.”
The Deputy CEO said women could also form cooperative business units and benefit from lending to themselves.
She said that the formation of cooperatives would help them to attract more loans as against stand-alone single-borrower schemes.