In order to fill a gap in financial inclusion that largely ignores unbanked women, small- and medium-sized women business owners, smallholder farmers, and youth, Pan-African Savings and Loans Company Ltd. (Pan-African) today launched the MAMA programme.
The creative MAMA strategy mixes free non-financial services like business skills training, eHealth, and wellness services with savings, loans, and payment solutions to help women clients.
"A Mama woman is brave and courageous. We want our female consumers who purchase MAMA goods to understand that we consider them as a whole, said Mrs. Linda Naykene, Head of Corporate Affairs, Research, and Customer Experience at Pan-African.
"In addition to providing MAMA women with the capital they need to expand their businesses and a place to store their money, we carefully attend to their requirements in terms of the economy, society, the humanities, and health. We are aware that a solid and resourceful clientele can help them expand their enterprises and bring in new business for us through recommendations.
With technical support from CapitalPlus Exchange (CapPlus) through FIRST+ (Financial Institution Resilience and Strengthening), Pan-African completed the MAMA programme.
CapPlus' collaboration with the Bank of Ghana, the Mastercard Foundation, and the Ghana Microfinance Institution Network (GHAMFIN) aims to increase small company financing with the goal of creating jobs, particularly for women and young people.
MAMA women have access to a variety of options for skill-building in addition to financial services, including planning for savings and investments, networking, and training in digital literacy and company management.
MAMA women also gain access to practical advice like training in fire detection and prevention, a variety of free healthcare services, including health lectures and screenings and telemedicine, as well as lower costs for prescription drugs and laboratory testing.
In order to better position our team to recommend female clients who might need help, we are especially happy to provide them with cutting-edge training on gender-based violence, said Mrs. Naykene.
Pan-African is one of the 24 financial institutions chosen to take part in FIRST+, and after attending a FIRST+ gender finance workshop where Mrs. Elsie Addo-Awadzi, 2nd Deputy Governor, Bank of Ghana, spoke, the company reinforced its strategic choice to provide its female consumers with a gender-focused programme.
And the Ghana Country Director for the Mastercard Foundation, Ms. Rosy Fynn, urged financial institutions to extend more financial services to women.
After that, a market analysis conducted in conjunction with CapPlus revealed service shortages and openings for women in Ghana.
Following the completion of the bundling of the MAMA suite of products and services, Pan-African provided training in gender intelligence, loan management, marketing, and customer service to personnel from Pan-African's 16 sites.
"Pan-African was already working on a women-focused agriculture business solution that included financial and non-financial services when we started cooperating under FIRST+. The MAMA initiative meets the requirement identified by our market research to go beyond the agriculture sector to an institution-wide programme for all women in the Ghanaian market.
"That emphasis on gender awareness represents a genuine shift in Pan-African mindset."
Five subgroups of working women are specifically served by MAMA products: MAMA company is for company owners in all industries; MAMA Agri is for women working in agriculture and the agricultural value chain, including food processing and growing of fruits and vegetables; Female home managers and carers can save and invest through MAMA Home; women working in the informal economy, such as those who work in hair salons, supermarkets, or as small-business owners, can do so through MAMA Dwumadi; and young women entrepreneurs or those who want to be one, such as recent college graduates, can do so through Young MAMA.
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