From GH¢18m to GH¢3.2bn: How Dr. Alexander Asmah Turned ‘Too Young’ into Amenfiman’s Biggest Asset”

Chief Executive Officer of Amenfiman Community Bank, Dr. Alexander Asmah, has recounted the bank’s 15-year journey from a modest community bank to a GH¢3.2 billion asset institution, attributing the growth to vision, hard work, and “the almighty ways” of God.

“I acknowledge what the Lord has done through us. I always say that by the grace of God and His almighty ways, this is how far the Lord has brought us,” Dr. Asmah said while speaking on the bank’s performance.

From Modest Beginnings to GH¢3.2 Billion
Dr. Asmah said the bank started with real challenges 15 years ago. “We started modestly. We started as a very modest community bank. We had our own challenges some 15 years ago. Many resources were not available, opportunities though. Were there were not enough resources to tap into those opportunities.”

He said he came in with “a vision to transform the bank with a vision that was extraordinary” and needed people to believe in and support it. A key challenge was age and perception: “Everybody who saw me at that time thought I was too young for the position of a CEO. Previously, there have been people who have grown enough and very old too, who have come in as CEOs and have not been able to turn around the fortunes of the bank, so even the communities, some people did not believe in us.”

Driven by his roots, he set a standard for the community: “My challenge is because I am from this community, I have to work hard enough and make sure that we deliver results, so that if there’s somebody from this community who wants to be an MCE, an MP or want to go for any public office, I will be a positive reference to that person.”

Remarkable Growth Metrics
“By the grace of God and His almighty ways, the Lord has seen us through,” he said, citing the numbers:
– Total assets: From “a modest 18 million Ghana cedis 15 years ago to 3.2 billion cedis now”
– Deposits: From 15 million to 2.3 billion cedis
– Profit: “Multiplied 410 times”
– Staff: From “around 78 people” to “over 600 employees who draw their paycheck from us every month in very senior positions and working well in the organization”

Leading in Financial Inclusion
Dr. Asmah said the bank set out “an agenda to become a point of reference in financial inclusion and community banking in Ghana.” For Amenfiman, financial inclusion means “the people that are classified as risky and unbanked are brought to the banking sector.”

The bank targeted the informal sector, which it “said is high risk,” yet has given loans totaling “a total portfolio of 1.2 billion cedis and still maintain a non-performing loan ratio of 1.6% contrary to nationwide banking sector, non-performing ratio of in excess of 20%.”

He said the bank lends to people “who ordinary will not have had access to money to do their business, people do not have to trust relatives, have to track uncles, husbands to give them money to do their business,” and they can access loans “even without a bank account, even without having any, anything to go and ask for money to do their business.”

“Amenfiman is the only community bank, and so far I don’t know even any commercial bank who is doing that, that is bold enough to confront the informal sector and say come for a loan up to 1 million cedis without collateral,” he added. “We have structures in place to monitor and track the risk and be able to recover the money and bring the money back.”