Sustainability in Troubled Times

PUTTING THE TEN
PRINCIPLES INTO PRACTICE
Eclipse Microfinance Limited (EML) was set up with a mandate from the Central Bank of
Ghana to give credit to micro and small-scale businesses and individuals as well as offer
investment opportunities to the public at large. Four years on, the company has touched many
more lives than businesses through its social intervention strategy.
By Henry Ephson, Eclipse Microfinance Limited
The case of Kekeli Klagbon
Kekeli Klagbon, a member of a family of
five, lived in the southern part of Ghana.
Being a somewhat precocious child, he
had always admired doctors with their
white lab coats and stethoscopes hanging
around their necks. His one wish in
life was to be a doctor so as to be able to
look after the scores of deprived people
in his community, who lived very decent
and hardworking lives.
His goal was almost permanently derailed
when his father died during his
last year in junior high school and his
mother became unemployed as a result
of a massive retrenchment policy at
her workplace. Faced with an almost
hopeless situation, Kekeli had no one to
turn to and clung to his very passionate
desire to do something significant with
his life. Prior to his death, his father
had put away some savings into EML’s
Educational Investment Plan.
Kekeli’s mother walked into the company’s
office with the intention of withdrawing
whatever funds there were in
her late husband’s account and use it
for subsistence for her needy family. Her
small hope for a few days of happiness
was jolted when she was informed by
the company that, in order to access
her husband’s trust account, Letters of
Administration were required by law
and policy. With no hope of receiving
help to access funds or procure Letters
of Administration to administer the late
husband’s estate, she cried and attracted
the attention of the bank’s senior management
members, who were meeting for
a strategic review of their budget figures.
The Head of Marketing was dispatched to
intervene. Management members were
immediately notified about the woman’s
Simeone Bansah receiving the citation of
our Social Investment Fund
102
Global Compact International Yearbook 2017