RURAL BANK'S SPONSORED PROJECT INAUGURATED AT AHODWO ROUNDABOUT (Page 29)

Story: George Ernest Asare, Kumasi

The Atwima Kwanwoma Rural Bank (AKRB) in collaboration with the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) has inaugurated the Ahodwo Roundabout project as their contribution to the beautification of the Kumasi metropolis.
The roundabout which has a huge horse in its middle signifies war, journey, defence, swiftness and pace setting.
It was sponsored by the bank at a cost of GH¢31,700 (¢317 million) as part of its social responsibility.
Explaining why the bank selected a horse as the symbol at the Ahodwo Roundabout during the ceremony, the Chief Executive Officer of the AKRB, Mr Godfried Odame Asare, said their choice was based on the fact that the horse as an animal had unique characteristics which were all very helpful to the development of mankind.
He said like the horse, the AKRB had been waging war against diseases since its establishment in 1983, and that explained why over the years, it had made various contributions in the form of cash donations, hospital equipment, furniture, electronic appliances and building materials, among others, to hospitals and communities. Some of them are the Dominase SDA Hospital, the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital , the Old Tafo Electoral Area and the Santasi Electoral Area.
He said the gesture was to ensure effective and efficient health care delivery at the hospitals and also improve sanitation in the communities to reduce the spread of communicable diseases.
Mr Odame Asare said just like the horse, the AKRB was also waging war against ignorance by not only sponsoring the education of brilliant needy students in its catchment area, but was in the process of building a model senior high school as a way of building the capacity of the youth to enable them to contribute more meaningfully towards sustainable and socio-economic development in future.
He said apart from spending as much as GH¢150,000 (¢1.5 billion) on the first phase of the project, the bank had also provided furniture, books and building materials to various schools in the catchment area to enhance teaching and learning .
He said the AKRB which had five branches at Santasi, Old Tafo, New Tafo, Ayigya and Atonsu was also helping to reduce poverty by providing soft loans to people who engaged in small scale businesses.
He said so far, as much as GH¢1,603 (¢16.03 billion) had been advanced as loans to 1,111 clients.
He said the AKRB continued to set the pace in terms of growth, and was now considered to be the leading rural bank in the country, stressing that “ out of the 100 best companies in Ghana, our bank placed 10th in the Ghana Club 100 rankings and in the banking category we also placed first, putting behind all the major banks”.
He said in the Rural Banking category, the AKRB again placed first among the 124 rural banks in the country, which indicated that the bank was setting the pace for others to follow.