A memorandum of understanding (MoU) between UBA Ghana and the UNDP aims to promote youth- and women-led micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Ghana.
The alliance is anticipated to dramatically reduce its environmental footprint, grow jobs and revenue, and scale up MSMEs led by young people and women.
To boost Ghana’s efforts to turn climate promises into actions, it will also be helpful to improve financial inflows from climate funding channels and get access to climate financing schemes.
According to a statement from the bank, the UNDP and UBA Ghana will collaborate to design and implement a number of creative programs and processes to boost UBA Ghana’s institutional capacity to access climate financing programs like the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
Chris Ofikulu, the managing director of UBA Ghana and regional chief executive officer of UBA West Africa, emphasized the importance of the alliance and said it is a welcome development because UBA Ghana specializes in offering creative financing to companies, including SMEs.
He stated: “Collaborating with UNDP demonstrates UBA Ghana’s commitment to supporting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a particular focus on providing custom financial solutions and growth opportunities for businesses of all sizes to facilitate inter–and-intra-African trade.”
He added that in order to provide easier access to markets for their goods and services, the enterprises will also receive a customized program of service assistance and capacity building in areas such as corporate governance, branding, marketing, financial support, and product design/creation. Additionally, they will receive assistance with energy efficiency audits and corrective measures to lessen their carbon footprints.
Dr. Angela Lusigi, the UNDP’s resident representative in Ghana, said: “The UNDP is working to influence the flow of resources towards development by encouraging investors and businesses of all sizes to embed the SDGs and Climate action into their analytics, decision making and business practices.”
