UBA Ghana and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to support youth and women-led micro, small and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs) in Ghana.

The partnership is expected to scale up youth and women-led MSMEs, increase jobs, drive revenue and contribute significantly towards the reduction of environmental footprint.

It will also help to access climate financing schemes and increase financial inflows from climate funding channels to support Ghana’s efforts to turn climate commitments into actions.

Through the partnership, UNDP and UBA Ghana will co-develop and implement a suite of innovative programmes and mechanisms to strengthen the institutional capacity of UBA Ghana to access climate financing schemes including the Green Climate Fund (GCF), a statement by the bank said.

The Managing Director of UBA Ghana and Regional Chief Executive Officer of UBA West Africa, Chris Ofikulu, highlighted the significance of the partnership and pointed out that the partnership is a welcome development as UBA Ghana specializes in providing innovative financing to businesses including SMEs.

He said: “Collaborating with UNDP demonstrates UBA Ghana’s commitment to supporting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a particular focus on providing custom financial solutions and growth opportunities for businesses of all sizes to facilitate inter–and-intra-African trade.”

He explained that the businesses will also receive a tailored programme of service support and capacity development in areas including corporate governance, branding, marketing, financial support, and product design/development to enable easier access to markets for their products and services. They will also be supported with energy efficiency audits and remedial actions to minimise their carbon footprints.

The UNDP Resident Representative in Ghana, Dr Angela Lusigi, said: “The UNDP is working to influence the flow of resources towards development by encouraging investors and businesses of all sizes to embed the SDGs and Climate action into their analytics, decision making and business practices.”