Opportunity International Savings and Loans Limited (OISL), one of the leading savings and loans companies in Ghana, has equipped 30 street porters (Kayayei) in Kumasi with vocational skills.
The four-week intensive training saw participants learn skills such as baking, bead and soap making, to enhance their personal growth and financial independence.
The trainees received certificates and startup kits valued at GHS 2,500 at the graduation ceremony, which took place at the Methodist Training Centre, Kumasi, on August 30, 2024.
Each participant also received a stipend of GHS 400 during the training period and extra GHS 100 cash to start operating a bank account at OISL.
Hajia Azara Abukari-Haroun, Chairperson of the Board Transformation Committee of OISL, graced the event and urged the trainees to make good use of the knowledge acquired.
Mr Osman Zibilim, Chairman of the Kumasi Kayayie Association, thanked OISL and its partner, Medicor Foundation, for the support.
The ‘Kayayei Project’, collaboration be
tween OISL and Medicor Foundation, aims to empower and educate marginalised young girls.
Medicor Foundation, based in the United Kingdom (UK) is an independent charitable organisation that focuses on education, health, and social care to improve the well-being of vulnerable and disadvantaged persons in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Eastern Europe.
Some 322 young females in Ghana have been beneficiaries of the OISL skills training programme since its inception in 2019.
About 140 other trainees have also relocated to the Northern part of the country for resettlement, the company said in a press release copied to Ghana News Agency.
Opportunity International Savings and Loans Limited currently has 38 branches in 10 regions in Ghana, serving more than 675,000 clients across the country.
It is a subsidiary of Opportunity International, a global organisation with its Head Office in Chicago, United States, delivering services and programmes to clients in 30 countries across the globe.
It serves more
than 20 million customers with micro banking, micro insurance, agriculture, education finance, and innovative non-financial services.
Other dignitaries present at the graduation were: Ms. Theophilia Esther Larbie, Head of the Transformation Department of OISL; Mr. Isaac Gyesi, Head of Compliance at OISL; Mr. Richard Anyamesem, Head of Marketing at OISL; Mr Iddrisu Mahama, and Mr Haruna Alhassan, the Dagomba Chiefs of Kwadaso and Perkyi, respectively.
Source: Ghana News Agency