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Friday, May 2, 2014

Yaa Asantewaa Rural Bank records 100% growth, invests in community health

The Yaa Asantewaa Rural Bank at Ejisu in the Ashanti region has recorded over 100 percent increase in deposit mobilization and asset base, barely two years into operations.

Board Chairman, Samuel Addo Otoo, says the ultimate impact is felt by customers whose businesses and personal finances are being transformed.

“We’ve been able to grant a lot of loans to SMEs and to salaried workers both government and private employees and I think their lives have improved,” he noted.

The rural bank is one of the few SMEs in the Ashanti region to have declared interest to get listed on the Ghana Alternative Market to raise additional capital for expansion.

As part of its corporate social responsibility initiatives, the Yaa Asantewaa Bank is investing in the health and other social activities within its operational catchment.

For the second year running, the bank held its annual health outreach in the Ejisu and Atonsu communities to commemorate the 2014 May Day.

Over 800 residents benefitted from the free medical outreach program – men, women and children in the local communities were screened for some chronic, lifestyle and infectious diseases.

“So far we are coming up with people who never knew they were diabetic but now because of the fact that we did the sugar screening and they are high, we are referring them to go for further investigations to confirm their diabetic status,” observed Dr. Frank Nketia-Boakye, medical team leader.

He has emphasized the need for the Ghanaian adult population to go for regular screening of chronic diseases, especially hepatitis, hypertension and diabetes.

Early medication attention, he believes, will save lots of lives from such conditions.

Mr. Otoo is also enjoining other financial institutions to join forces in such community health exercises to impact on the lives of local people.

“Rural banking is a community-based venture to help the people improve their total lives, not just in terms of monetary and it is said that you can only go about your normal business when you are healthy. So I’ll encourage other banks to come on board to support the project,” he said.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh


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