There is hope on the horizon for the victims of the Kantamanto and Techiman market fires as GCB Bank has allocated an amount of GH¢ 3 million to revive the businesses of these traders.
Fire gutted the shops of the traders destroying their wares and in some cases cash stashed in the shops. The Kantamanto incident happened on January 3, 2025, barely two days into the year. About 10 days later, Techiman Central market was also ablaze in flame destroying hundreds of shops.
Other markets across the country have also recorded incidents of fire outbreaks destroying the investments, livelihood, and source of income for many traders.
As part of its commitment to support small and medium businesses, Ghana’s indigenous bank, GCB has gone to the rescue of these victims disbursing to them soft loans to resume their businesses.
The loans disbursed to the traders in Kantamanto and Techiman markets, the bank said, are to the tune of GH¢ 3 million. Per the conditions of the package, the bank says the traders have up to 9 months to repay with a 3-month moratorium.
Executive Head of Retail Banking at GCB, Sina Kamagate confirmed that the package is to offer relief to these traders and build them up to world-class businesses.
“The package is to relieve them of their grief. What we have done is to give them a nine-month period to pay this loan. In these nine months, in the first three months, they are not going to pay or service any amount. And so they have a holiday or even like a moratorium of three months, they will start paying from the month of April,” he told the media.
He added. “the bigger vision is to grow these micro and small and make them multinational companies and that has been the focus and we have not lost sight of that.”
He further bemoaned that it was unfortunate that some victims lost their cash stashed in the shops instead of depositing it at the bank. Given this challenge, the package comes along with education and training on how to manage their finances through the banking system.
“What we are doing also is to support them, educate them around lodging of their sales. So now on a daily basis, as our e-collectors have always done, they’ll go to them, take their sales, and include them better in the financial services sector,” he revealed.
It is expected that this package and support from GCB Bank will help to reinstate these victims to their former state or even better.
