Hajia Abibata Shanni Mahama Zakariah
Transformation at the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) has begun to spread unprecedented wealth to micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs).
Over the past one year, the new MASLOC boss, Hajia Abibata Shanni Mahama Zakariah, has introduced a series of landmark reforms to open up businesses and investment flows, ultimately pulling people out of poverty.
Efforts by the Columbia University graduate have started showing positive signs, strengthening MASLOC’S ability to utilize entrepreneurship as a poverty alleviation tool.
With the launch of a strategic operational plan, the Abibata-led MASLOC has centred the organisation’s focus on women, youth, the physically challenged persons for empowerment, while making recovery and solvency as topmost priorities.
MASLOC has successfully negotiated and secured a multi-million-dollar injection of funds from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to help fund MSME loans across the country, to wind it off from dependency on the Government’s funding.
This will allow MASLOC to continue to carry on its core mandate of non-traditional loans to the pro-poor during this challenging post COVID-19 recovery period.
Reports said the CEO is currently negotiating with some other international agencies for additional MSMEs loan funding for Ghana through MASLOC, besides the enhanced digitalisation project across the country.
The MASLOC boss has also concluded agreements for professional private loan recovery agencies to help the organization to recover millions of Ghana Cedis in outstanding disbursed loans.
It follows the President’s directive that the majority of MASLOC’s funding to come from the recovery of already disbursed loans.
For the digitalisation, it is meant to eliminate paper-based transactions of MASLOC and strengthen accountability and oversight in the loan application, disbursement, and repayment processes.
The new system will also include a Mobile Money Payment Platform.
Details of the system were outlined during a nationwide stakeholder- engagement tour, where the CEO and her team engaged directly with all MASLOC stakeholders across the country.
Recently, Hajia Abibata and her team increased the threshold of group loans with the new amounts ranging between GH¢1,000 to GH¢5,000.
The loan amount a trader receives will depend on the type of trade.
The organization has also made required documentation flexible to ensure easy access of loans.
The new operational efficiencies have resulted in hiring of new regional managers and the opening of offices in all the newly created six regional capitals to complete the national coverage.
Along with the increased national coverage, the MASLOC team has implemented monthly metrics and performance review procedures, strengthened monitoring and evaluation, and instituted employee performance reward schemes.
The two Deputy CEOs now have zonal performance oversight across the country.
These remarkable changes at MASLOC have in a short time improved current Vehicle Hire Purchase (VHP) product repayment of 100% with no defaults with the recently disbursed VW Golf saloon cars.
Last weekend, MASLOC successfully disbursed GH¢1.7million as loans to over 1,000 beneficiaries in Ashanti Region.
There are plans to follow up with disbursements in other regions of the country, with the CEO expected to announce modalities for MSMEs to access the multi-million AfDB loan facility.
In these challenging global economic times, the team at MASLOC is determined to keep the hopes of MSMEs in the country alive and empower more people economically.
A business desk report