Lawrence Agyinsam
GHANA EXPORT–Import Bank (GEXIM) – recently won the 2019 City of Karlsruhe Outstanding Sustainable Project Financing Award in Karlsruhe, Germany.
The Karlsruhe Sustainable Finance Awards honours financial institutions
and organizations, with significant contributions to the field of sustainable
financing.
GEXIM won the award after submitting a detailed Project Cycle Financing
Support extended to Juaben Oil Mills Co. Ltd, based in Juaben in the Ashanti
Region.
The award, therefore, recognized the outstanding success in long-term
financing of the Juaben Oil Mills Co. Ltd as exemplary industrial and commercial
company that is currently benefitting the local community, protecting the environment
and ensuring reliable return to investors and lenders.
The award underscores the bank’s commitment to change the development
banking landscape through innovative financing to consistently finance agro
processing projects that contribute to the socio-economic development of Ghana.
Lawrence Agyinsam, Chief Executive Officer of the bank, received the
award on behalf of his outfit. He said the bank had
lined up strategies aimed at stimulating the interest of local manufactures and
empowering them to grow their businesses as well as connecting them to the global
market space.
He said about 50% of workers employed by the company are women and this
is to ensure that they are economically empowered to provide support for their families and the communities.
He further
said that the move is in line with GEXIM’s mandate to support local Ghanaian
businesses to be globally competitive, saying Juaben Oil Mills Co. Ltd, has the
capacity to serve as a training school for potential entrepreneurs in
commercial palm oil production.
Mr.
Agyinsam, who is currently the Honorary President of Global Network of
Export-import Banks and Development Finance Institutions, G-NEXID, disclosed
that the most innovative feature of the Juaben Oil Co. Ltd. is the use of palm
kernel shells for fuel production to generate electricity for the factory and
some parts of the Juaben community.
GEXIM is a corporate
body established by the Ghana Export–Import Bank Act, 2016 (Act911) and has its
object to support directly or indirectly trade between Ghana and other
countries and build Ghana’s capacity and competitiveness in the international
market place.
