Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) and Jersey Overseas Aid (JOA) have teamed up with Orange Mobile Finance – a unit within Orange Sierra Leone (OSL) Ltd. and other partners to roll out a project titled: ‘Women and Girls FIRST (Financial Inclusion & resilience Strengthening).
This event took place during an auspicious ceremony held in a conference room at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Aberdeen in Freetown on Tuesday 9th November, 2021.
Various speakers including David Mansaray, Chief Executive Officer Orange Mobile Finance – Sierra Leone, Simon Boas, Executive Director of Jersey Overseas Aid (JOA) who addressed the meeting via zoom, Kayode Akinlola, CAFOD Country Representative, Ade Adebiyi, Managing Director Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), Manti Tarawally, Minister of Gender and Children’s Affairs, Governor Bank of Sierra Leone, Prof. Kelfala Kallon among others, highlighted the importance of the project and the various roles they intend playing to ensure that the project is successful throughout its three years’ tenure.
The aim of the project is to strengthen financial resilience and improve financial inclusion among rural communities in Sierra Leone, especially women and girls by improving access and adoption of inclusive and appropriate financial services and products, strengthening their knowledge and understanding of financial matters by reinforcing literacy skills, and empowering women and girls financially by building up their confidence and self-reliance.
The project will directly target a total of 17,500 rural community members, of which 15,000 are women and girls in 200 rural communities in three districts (Kambia, Port Loko and Kambia).
On his part, David Mansaray, Chief Executive Officer, Orange Mobile Finance – Sierra Leone, said he felt humble to be speaking on behalf of his company. He added that Orange Money is well represented across the country to service its numerous clients. He added that currently, Orange Mobile Finance has 1.3 million active subscribers across Sierra Leone. This he said, accounts for about 1/3 of the Sierra Leonean adult population and that from this figure, 45% are women residing in rural areas,
He assured his audience that with the professionalism, dedication and extensive reach of Orange Mobile Finance across Sierra Leone, he is looking forward to a very successful Women and Girls FIRST project in the coming thirty six months.
Similar sentiments were made by other distinguished speakers.
