Rural Microfinance - Sinapi Aba Savings & Loans

Thematic Area:	Financial Inclusion & Microfinance
Duration:	2016 – 2019
Client:	Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW)
Region:	Africa
Country Coverage:	Ghana

Project Overview

One of the main challenges in Ghana remains to be the creation of access to financial services for the rural population, particularly to credit for micro and small enterprises. To this end, KfW is supporting Sinapi Aba Savings and Loans Company Ltd. (“SASL”) to further expand and develop its rural and agricultural portfolio with financial and technical assistance (TA).

Frankfurt School supported SASL in developing and implementing TA measures necessary to the successful implementation of the Project targeted at economically active households and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) in rural areas of Ghana providing efficient and sustainable access to financial services based on their needs.

After an initial gap analysis during the inception phase of the project, the Frankfurt School expert team supported SASL with the following:

Risk Management: Analysed and upgraded the overall risk management framework; developed charters and working principles for asset and liability management, risk committee and audit committee, risk management policy and procedures and provided the necessary tools;
SME Lending: Developed an SME strategy and tools including staff training to strengthen SME lending;
Research and Marketing: Developed the staff capacity to prepare marketing strategic plans, key performance indicators including development of a comprehensive marketing plan;
HR and training: Elaboration of an option study for setting up an Academy and development of a decentralised training method;
Environmental and Social Management System: An environmental strategy and policy were developed and Frankfurt School provided support towards their operationalization; this included the development of a training module for clients on environmental protection and the consequences of climate change and resulted in the training of 249 employees and 590 clients of SASL on the topic “Environment protection and consequences of climate change/Adaptation measures”;
Upgrade of corporate planning and budgeting and training in Microfin financial modelling and providing advice for attracting investors.