The Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG) has initiated a pilot loan scheme to enable entrepreneurs with disabilities to access credit at a fixed interest rate of five per cent per annum to enable them to grow their businesses.
Christened the CBG PWD Inclusion Loan Initiative, developed in partnership with the Korklu Foundation, the facility seeks to broaden access to formal finance for persons with disabilities (PWDs) in business.
Under the scheme, there will be no facility or penalty fees on the beneficiaries, and the loans will be repayable over a period of one year.
The initiative will also combine financial literacy, concessionary finance, and sustained business support within a framework designed around the realities of viable micro-enterprises operated by PWDs across the country.
Loans, not grants
The Managing Director of CBG, Dr Naomi Wolali Kwetey, at the launch in Accra, said the bank saw financial inclusion as a strategic responsibility.
“People with disabilities are entrepreneurs, employers, producers, professionals and customers, and their ambitions are no different than other business owners, but conventional financial products often do not reflect the barriers they face in entering and navigating the formal financial system.
“This is an extension of the bank’s commitment beyond opening accounts and financial literacy to responsible access to credit,” she said.
“Facilities are not grants but loans.
That distinction is important because it puts beneficiaries in the formal credit system and recognises them as capable economic partners,” she said.
Dr Kwetey said the bank’s approach was based on “inclusion with discipline", offering concessionary pricing and well-thought-out exceptions to requirements that might inadvertently exclude viable informal businesses but maintaining sound appraisal, transparency, responsible lending and accountability.
She said success would be measured through the strength and resilience of beneficiaries' businesses, the quality of their account relationships, responsible repayment, and the confidence they gained in dealing with the formal financial system.
A partnership beyond grants
The Deputy Managing Director for Corporate, Business, and Inclusive Banking and Technology, Sheila Azuntaba, stated that the initiative stemmed from the bank's recognition that many persons with disabilities had entrepreneurial potential but faced barriers to accessing formal financial services, often being overlooked as charity cases rather than capable entrepreneurs.
She stated that it was a pilot programme that the bank hoped to expand nationwide "to ensure that everyone across this country living with disabilities can walk into any of our branches, speak with any of our bankers, and be assured that you have a listening ear".
She stated that the bank's overall financial inclusion programme had already onboarded 119 participants, with CBG funding their minimum opening balances and granting approved service-fee waivers to remove immediate barriers to formal banking.
The Director of Retail and Business Banking, Emmanuel Nikoi, led beneficiaries through financial literacy and savings training, emphasising that loan funds should only be used for productive business activity, not personal expenses.
"A loan is not free money," he said, urging recipients to use it to purchase resale items, pay for business transportation, or replenish inventory.
Korklu Foundation's role
The Founder of the Korklu Foundation, Dorcas Naa Korklu Afotey, stated that the foundation, in collaboration with the CBG, was committed to assisting people with disabilities in becoming economically empowered, with selected beneficiaries receiving soft loans to help them grow their businesses.
She commended CBG for partnering the foundation, describing it as a demonstration of what institutions could achieve when they came together with a common purpose to put people first.
