Access Bank Ghana Plc. has partnered with Coronation Insurance Ghana Ltd., to provide a Business Protection Insurance Policy to safeguard Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) against fire, flood, burglary, and personal accidents.
Madam Matilda Asante-Asiedu, Group Head Retail Banking, Access Bank, stated that it is important to provide the product to enable small businesses to protect their investments since most of them were exposed to disruptive elements like fire and flood.
“To be able to secure your businesses, you need to get your business running. This is why Access Bank has collaborated with Coronation Insurance to provide you with that needed stability.”
Matilda Asante-Asiedu
Mr Adedayo Arowojolu, the Managing Director (MD) of Coronation Insurance, stated that, recent occurrences have shown the disruptive power of fire and flood on business operations, hence the need for this initiative.
“We all know what happened in Makola in July, this year and some families are still yet to recover from those occurrences.”
Mr Adedayo Arowojolu
Owing to the disruptive nature of fire outbreaks and their impact on people who fall victims, Mr. Arowojolu urged SMEs to embrace the policy.
Access Bank, knowing the significance of SMEs to the growth of the local economy, brought about the initiative to educate business owners on the impact of fire on their businesses and how to secure their investments, Adedayo revealed.
Also, he underscored the importance of SMEs on job and wealth creation and revealed that it is in the interest of everybody to work towards the growth of SMEs.
Insuring against fire, theft
Mr Arowojolu noted that sometimes, business owners could take all the precautions, but fire and flood could still destroy what they have built over the years.
He then rhetorically posed the question “when that happens, who do you run to” as a business or an individual?
“Today, Coronation Insurance together with Access Bank is providing that comfort in case there is that fire, theft and personal accident to the business owner.”
Mr Adedayo Arowojolu
Adedayo leveraged on the event to encourage business owners to take advantage of the offer to secure their businesses in the event of any unforeseen occurrences.
On his part, Mr David Amoateng, the President of the Traders Advocacy Group, Ghana (TAGG), challenged insurance practitioners, especially Coronation Insurance, to move out of their comfort zones into markets and educate business owners on insurance.
“It is about time to get out of your offices and hit the ground running. Educate market women and men on insurance because many people do not know the importance and benefits of insurance and, therefore, do not see the need to take one.”
Mr David Amoateng
Also, Mr Amoateng commended the partnership between the two institutions to champion the education of traders to invest in insurance packages to protect their businesses and lives.
The President of TAGG called on its members to take insurance policies to protect their businesses against unforeseen circumstances.
In the meantime, Mr. Amoateng called on Access Bank to continue to support businesses with soft loans so they could expand their business operations.
Several banks such as Universal Merchant Bank (UMB), Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG) and Ecobank Ghana, among others, have initiated measures to provide access to finance for SMEs, and to provide pension services to the informal sector.
READ ALSO: Embracing Technology Improves Customer Service: ARB Apex Bank’s MD
