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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