IFC to give over GH¢1.5m credit to Advans Ghana for lending to small businesses

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group says it will invest an amount of GH¢1.58 million into a microfinance company, Advans Ghana, for lending to small and medium sized businesses in the country.

In a press release issued in Accra Monday September 20, 2010 and copied to ghanabusinessnews.com, the IFC says it will invest in the company to help it expand lending to thousands of micro, small and medium sized enterprises in the country. The credit, according to the IFC is aimed at supporting broad economic growth.

The cedi loan, the IFC said, is its first investment in local currency to a microfinance institution in Ghana.

The loan which is for five years will help Advans Ghana expand its activities, initially in Accra, and later to other urban areas of Ghana, where the majority of the working population is employed by small and medium-sized businesses, the release said.

The release indicated that over the next three years, Advans Ghana is expected to create roughly 200 jobs and to serve at least 40,000 microfinance clients, half of which are expected to be women-run businesses.

Advans Ghana was started in 2008 and currently has about 2000 clients.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi