Members of various women groups across communities in the Builsa South District have expressed gratitude to the Builsa South Business Advisory Centre under the Ghana Enterprises Agency for what they described as a life changing experience.
This came up during an engagement with five (5) women groups from the Butresa, Fumbisi-Zongo and Yerinsa communities.
The Builsa South BAC five years ago setup 130 Village Savings and Loans Associations with membership of between 25 to 30 in 60 communities in the district. Five (5) Women groups in Butresa, Fumbisi-Zongo and Yerinsa shared in total of about GH₵138,000.00
Speaking during the short ceremony, the Head of Business Advisory Centre Mr. Saeed Jafar, on behalf of the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), Mrs Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, congratulated members of the various groups for putting the intervention to good use.
“I will on behalf of my CEO, Mrs Kosi Yankey-Ayeh use this time to say congratulations to all you women who are making the best out of the VSLA programme. When we started some five years ago, it was just a few women ad groups but today it’s growing big. The CEO is very passionate to see women owning and leading Micro, Small and Medium enterprises.”
Mr. Saeed Jafar further urged the beneficiary women to use the share-out funds to take care of their financial needs, not forgetting the children in their homes, and see them through school. He urged them to continue to abide by the rules of engagement at the various group levels since this will ensure that proceeds from the funds borrowed will be paid on time and with interest.
Speaking on behalf of the women groups, Secretary to “Noiyen – Tigsug” Mrs. Paulina Sumaila expressed their heartfelt gratitude to the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Enterprises Agency, the Builsa South District Assembly and all stakeholders for the opportunity given them.
She said, the VSLA concept introduced and training given them by the BAC has given them a voice in their homes. Adding that they are now consulted in family decision making and they are involved indirectly and some instances directly especially when it has to do with expenses.
“We say thank you for the training and teaching from the assembly people on the savings. Now we can loan money to each other and help our family and children. They call us to also talk during family meetings.”
Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) is a group of people who meet regularly to save together and take small loans from those savings. The activities of the group run in cycles of one year, after which the accumulated savings and the loan profits are distributed back to the members. The purpose of a VSLA is to provide simple savings and loan facilities in a community that does not have easy access to formal financial services.
A VSLA is a transparent, democratic and structured version of the informal Savings Groups found in many parts of the developing world. The VSL methodology emphasizes accountable governance, standard procedures and simple accounting that everyone can understand and trust.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Gerard Awombadek Asagi|Ghana
