Ghana Association of Banks admonished to reconsider 0.05% YouStart Monitoring Charges
At the just-ended high-level breakfast meeting on YouStart organized by the Ghana Association of Banks (GAB) at Coconut Groove Hotel in Accra, The President of the Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs (GCYE), Mr. Richard Addison, made some remarkable calls worth noting.
Speaking at the high-level breakfast meeting, Richard Addison commended the Government for the laudable policy intervention in the area of private sector business development towards boosting sustainable decent jobs and wealth creation across the country.
“We are glad for this initiative, and we appreciate the Government for listening to the calls of groups like the chamber, who have advocated for a deliberate financial support mechanism for young entrepreneurs such as YouStart.
We, however, appeal to the Government to develop a more inclusive, resilient, realistic, and sustainable policy document under the new ‘YouStart” initiative to help solidify the laudable policy of the Government to reach entrepreneurs in Ghana,” He said
He urged the banks to re-look at the 0.05% monitoring fee by relying on the districts and bank branches across the country to reduce the charges on loans. “Since the program’s sustainability depends on the beneficiaries’ ability to repay the loans, we must not put so much burden or charges on them; so, we should take the 0.05% charges off. The banks should use the assembles or branches to do the monitoring just as they’ve been doing on loans they give out.”
Finally, Richard Addison encouraged the Ghana Association of Banks to ensure that the “YouStart ” Commercial Program is highly inclusive and accessible to all qualified young entrepreneurs in Ghana.
The breakfast meeting is part of the stakeholder engagement led by the GAB to engage the key trade associations in Ghana to solicit their input and acceptance of the initiative. The Ghana Chamber of Young entrepreneurs represented the young entrepreneurs in that particular meeting.
