Ecobank is strengthening its support for Ghana’s agricultural sector by investing in specialised expertise, staff training and technical assistance to improve access to finance and help businesses manage risks.
The Regional Head of Consumer and Commercial Banking for Anglophone West Africa at Ecobank, Charlotte Amanquah, said agriculture remains a strategic priority for the banking group, with resources being committed to developing the capacity needed to serve businesses across the sector.
She made the remarks at the Ecobank-JoyBusiness Financial Dialogue Series, held under the theme, “Green Finance, Real Impact: Powering Inclusive Agri-Growth in Ghana.”
The dialogue brought together agricultural small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), entrepreneurs, regulators, media representatives and other stakeholders to examine how green finance could support inclusive growth in Ghana’s agricultural sector.
Mrs Amanquah said Ecobank’s approach to agricultural financing starts with building the right expertise within the bank.
“We have agriculture as a clear strategy, and the action has followed that strategy,” she said.
She explained that the bank recruits professionals with knowledge of both agriculture and banking to ensure that its financing decisions are informed by an understanding of the sector.
“We spend time looking for people who already understand the sector and banking. So that’s the first step, internally getting resources with the right expertise,” she said.
According to her, Ecobank also regularly trains its staff, including customer-facing employees and teams responsible for back-end operations and risk assessment.
She said the training was particularly important because agricultural lending is often viewed as carrying higher risks compared with some other areas of banking.
“Today, banks are saying, ‘Oh, there’s too much risk.’ But the people who assess risk in Ecobank also go through the agriculture training, and they understand what to look out for where there’s truly risk,” she said.
Mrs Amanquah said agricultural expertise was also embedded at senior management level to ensure that the bank’s commitment to the sector was reflected across different levels of its operations.
Beyond financing, she said Ecobank was working to strengthen the capacity of agricultural businesses through technical assistance and other support programmes.
She explained that the bank’s relationship with agricultural businesses was therefore not limited to providing loans, but also included helping customers develop the knowledge and capabilities required to operate sustainably.
Mrs Amanquah further pointed to Ecobank’s presence across several African markets as an advantage that allows the bank to draw lessons from businesses operating in different agricultural environments and share relevant knowledge with other customers.
“When we’ve learned from one and their experience, we share that with another, obviously maintaining confidentiality,” she said.
She disclosed that a significant part of the bank’s technical assistance programmes was supported through partnerships with development institutions.
According to her, such partnerships provide guarantees, concessional financing and grants aimed at strengthening the capacity of both Ecobank and its customers.
“They provide guarantees, they provide concessional funding, and then grants aimed solely at building the capacity of both the client and us,” she said.
Mrs Amanquah described the approach as a holistic model that combines financing, technical assistance, specialist expertise, staff training and customer capacity building.
The approach, she said, is intended to help address some of the financing and risk challenges that continue to affect agricultural businesses while supporting more inclusive growth across Ghana’s agricultural value chain.
