Lady Julia Osei Tutu, wife of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has advocated the empowerment of women by financial institutions towards effective social transformation.
She wants the managements of financial institutions to target women as their clientele base, as a social responsibility.
The occasion was the commissioning of the Old Tafo branch of the Eden Financial Services (EFS) in Kumasi last week Thursday.
According to Lady Julia, investing in women brings about a multiplying effect on the family as a social unit.
She pointed to a research finding that most men expend almost half of their income frivolously outside the home, while women use all available resources for the upkeep and maintenance of the home, including the welfare of men.
Lady Julia said there was no better way of reducing poverty, and hoped the launch of the EFS would bridge the gap between the rich few and the majority poor.
She urged women to patronise the FES and see it as an opportunity to walk out of poverty and use it as a key to financial success.
Lady Julia urged women folk to assert themselves in earning decent livelihoods, and not use illiteracy as an excuse to stay in poverty.
The Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), Mr. Samuel Sarpong, note d that the coming into existence of the EFS, as a wholly locally owned and Kumasi based financial institution, marked another milestone in the development of the Kumasi Metropolis, which has always been a fertile ground for business operations.
He said besides the high number of traders in the city, there was also a large vulnerable group of people who needed some form of financial assistance or support, in terms of credit, to enable them progress in their areas of business operations.
The KMA head entreated the management of the EFS to design products balanced enough to address the financial needs of all its target groups.
Mr. William Adom Boateng, Executive Board Chairman of the Eden Group of Companies, indicated that the main objective of establishing the financial institution was to create jobs for the youth, particularly, trained minds in the area of banking for development.
The EFS, according Mr. Boateng, is to provide financial services through savings and loans to improve the lives of the people in the metropolis.
Mr. Boateng’s vision in this respect was to roll out about 20 more branches of the EFS in the next five years.
The Old Tafo branch, with a customer base of about 2,000, is the second to be opened within six months of the coming of the EFS, which currently employs about 243 staff, making the total work force of the Eden Group 850.
Nana Agyin Frimpong Ababio, Tafohene, and Nana Owusu Banahene II, Asanteman Nkosuohene, among other dignitaries, graced the occasion.
