They have also trained over 6,000 SMEs, including smallholder farmers and in the process created jobs for more than 24,000 young Ghanaians in the sector.

Madam Audrey Abakah, Director of SMEs, Agency Banking and Partnerships at Absa Bank Ghana, disclosed this to the media after a field tour of some of the SMEs that had received financial support from the Bank.

In October 2020, Absa Bank Ghana partnered with the Mastercard Foundation to implement the AYAW project to create 50,000 decent jobs for young men and women by empowering SMEs through the provision of entrepreneurial skills training and collateral-free business loans at 10 per cent interest rate.

The five-year programme, 2020-2025, has been instrumental in job creation and providing entrepreneurial support, particularly in underserved sectors and communities.

Madam Abakah said they decided to embark on the initiative in 2020 to support businesses, particularly SMEs, to build back and upscale their operations from the financial brunt they faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Businesses were struggling to generate or access funding from financial institutions because at that time, it was risky to invest in small and medium enterprises.

"It was at that level that we thought that we needed to do something about it, because the SMEs are the engine of growth in this economy. So, if we are at a phase in our economy and these businesses are struggling, then something has to be done," she added.

Madam Abakah said out of the GHS 1.1 billion they had invested in the businesses, about 50 per cent had gone into SMEs in the agricultural sector, saying agri-businesses had the capacity to recruit more people in the value chain.

Mr Eric Danquah, General Manager of G Billy Farms Limited, a commercial pineapple-producing company based in Nsawam, and a beneficiary of the Absa AYAW initiative, said the support from the Bank had helped them to upscale their farm production as well increase their staff strength from 17 to 70 workers at the farm.

He said prior to accessing the financial support, they were facing a lot of financial constraints that had led them to lay off most of their workers and reduced their production.

The Company had accessed support from the AYAW between 2021 and 2024, receiving GHS 3.3 million.

Also, Mr Godwin Edem Adordie, CEO of Praise Exports Services Limited, an agro-processing export company, said they had increased their exports from 200 metric tonnes to 300 metric tonnes after receiving support from the bank. He added that their staff strength had also increased from 120 to 165 staff.

Madam Catherine Krobo Edusei, Managing Director of Eden Tree Limited, producers and distributors of fresh fruits and vegetables, said the support from the Bank came in at an opportune time for her company because they were facing financial constraints.

She said they accessed GHS 1million from the Bank which helped them pay their suppliers and salaries of workers to make up for the delay in payments from their clients who could not pay them on time.