Madam Abibata Shani Mahama, MASLOC CEO
The Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) has received a boost through support from the Ministry of Finance as well as multi-million dollar funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB) under the ‘post-COVID-19 Skills Development and Productivity Enhancement Project’ (PSDPEP).
The support is to help build a robust digital infrastructure to support its operations across the country, and make loan applications, processing, disbursements and recoveries seamless.
The funding from the AfDB is expected to resource MASLOC to complete its loan management software (LMS), digital infrastructure to support efficient loan disbursements and collections, training, and capacity building of over 550 staff across the country, and networking of all regional and districts offices to the head office.
It will also help build the institutional capacity of MASLOC to promote entrepreneurship and job creation among the youth and women operating MSMEs or in cooperatives.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of MASLOC, Madam Abibata Shani Mahama, the project forms part of management’s strategic initiative to automate all processes and achieve a paperless loan application, disbursements and recoveries.
“The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on MASLOC operations, loan recoveries from customers, especially the Micro-Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and customers in remote areas, cannot be overemphasised,” she told the Daily Statesman.
“Our digitalisation agenda holds the promise to remove most of the bottlenecks and support our customers irrespective of their locations, gender, qualifications and status in society. The MASLOC digital infrastructure would be leveraged by MSMEs, co-operatives, business associations, and individuals to automate, innovate, build capacity and skills, and have access to credit at competitive interest rates,” she added.
Ensuring seamless process
Additionally, the completion and full deployment of the LMS with mobile apps for all customer categories, Madam Abibata Mahama said, is the next phase to ensure a seamless loan application process.
This means loan processing within 24 hours, disbursements, and collections as MASLOC, going forward, will have the institutional capacity to disburse and recover loans via mobile money wallets, banks accounts, smart biometric cards, and smart POS terminals to be made available to all district offices.
She expressed gratitude to the Presidency and the Ministry of Finance for their support, as well as the team from AfDB for the funding.
“MASLOC shall leverage this unique initiative to reach out to more Development Finance Institutions to complement our efforts in providing access to financing for all customer segments across sectors, especially those in the agriculture value chains, MSMEs, youth and women businesses, co-operatives and trade associations,” she said.
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