Ghanaian mine workers set up financial body

The Ghana Mineworkers Union (GMWU) has opened a financial institution in Obuasi in the Ashanti Region that aims to mobilize resources and channel them to support trade in productive sectors of the economy.

Mr Johnson Boadi Asamoah, Managing Director of the Golden Pride Savings and Loans (GPSL) Limited, the Union’s financial institution, said effective intermediation required that banks and savings and loans institutions mobilized available resources and deployed them to income-generating economic activities.

He said financial institutions ought to expand credit to the productive private sectors to support domestic and international trade.

Mr Asamoah said GPSL had brought to the market highly motivated and self-driven professionals and staff to offer banking solutions at the door steps of cherished customers.

The GPSL products, he added, had been customized to meet different segments of clientele in the market, from the chief executive officer to businessmen and women, traders, artisans’ employees and children.

He said the target group had been identified as the catalyst for the economic growth of the country as they were a major source in income and employment.

He noted that a major barrier to rapid development of SMEs failure was for them to embrace modern business concepts and culture, and promised that GPSL would work to strengthen SME activities to facilitate vibrant economic activity.

Mr Prince Willam Ankrah, General Secretary of the GMWU noted that his outfit had not relented in the call for the revival of economies of mining towns, adding “I think the GPSL of the GMWU is a contribution to help in that crusade”.

He added that opening a financial institution was just part of the process to ensure that beyond mining, vibrant jobs were created in Obuasi and other mining communities to keep the mining economy moving.

Mr Robert Asamoah Gyekye, Executive Director of GMWU Investments Limited, said the event was a significant milestone to bring financial liberty and freedom to its constituents in Obuasi.

He added that GMWU was prepared to help the financial intermediation processes, because in Ghana a large majority of the people is unbanked.

In a solidarity message, Mr Nicholas Yeboah, Branch Union Secretary of GMWU of Anglo-Gold Ashanti in Obuasi Mine, expressed the hope that GPSL would ensure income security for members.

“We hope our members will have some relief and be given some preferential treatment in terms of the loan and the interest payable will be far less than the other financial institutions”, he added.

The GMWU has an investment unit, which owns the GPSL, seeks to create viable business entities for the Union and its entire workforce.

Source: GNA