Esther Ocloo, a Pioneer of Microcredit for Women in Ghana and the World

By Dr. Jovia Salifu, Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana

For decades, the world has acclaimed Professor Muhammad Yunus as the originator of the concept of microcredit. The story goes that the economics lecturer became disillusioned with the poverty around him and decided to do something about it. He started out by lending US$27 of his own money to poor basket weavers in his native Bangladesh in 1976 and eventually managed to set up the Grameen Bank in 1983.[i] This is the origin story of microcredit that is known worldwide and even earned Muhammad Yunus and his bank a Nobel Prize in 2006. However, what the world knows little about, is that around the same time, or even before Muhammad Yunus was thinking up his microcredit scheme, there was a businesswoman in Ghana who, together with her partners from other countries, was working on providing a similar service to women around the world.

The idea of establishing Women’s World Banking (WWB) was first mooted by a group of women who met on the sidelines of the first United Nations World Conference on Women held in Mexico City in 1975. One of these women was Mrs Esther Ocloo, a Ghanaian entrepreneur who had made her name in the food processing business in Ghana. By 1976, WWB had been established as a non-profit organisation that offered technical support to a global network of independent banks and microfinance institutions (MFIs). Formally incorporated in 1979, Esther Ocloo is recognised as its cofounder, along with Ela Bhatt, and Michaela Walsh.[ii] In Ghana, WWB was incorporated in 1982.[iii]

Prior to the establishment of WWB, there had been a long tradition of indigenous Ghanaian practices of savings and lending, including individual money lending, susu collection, and mutual help groups like rotating savings and credit associations. But the novelty of WWB lay in the fact that it was the first formally established institution to offer such a service to women on a large scale. With the predecessor arrangements, coverage was usually limited to a small community or cluster of communities at best. Mrs Ocloo was one of the first people to recognise the need to expand these practices and make credit available to women on a wider scale than what was already available. Already aware of what Ghanaian women were doing together in small groups, she was able to push in international women’s forums like the conference of 1975, for this to be extended to cover more women through Women’s World Banking.

Today, the WWB website indicates that there are 49 affiliate financial institutions operating in 31 countries around the world. The credit provided by these banks and MFIs is targeted at women who constitute 80% of the 30 million clients served by the network. This makes WWB the largest of its kind in the world in terms of clients.[iv] In pursuit of its goal of making financial services accessible to women, WWB places great emphasis on research and tailoring products to the specific needs of women. The creation of a global network enables it to draw on experiences of working with women from different parts of the world. Besides the goal of delivering financial services, there is a corresponding interest in developing other essential life skills like leadership in women.

Born Esther Afua Nkulenu on 18 April 1919, the proprietress of Nkulenu Industries Ltd started her business by supplying food items like marmalade and orange juice to Achimota School, her alma mater. She later studied for a cooking diploma from the Good Housekeeping Institute in London and a postgraduate food preservation course at Long Ashton Research Station at Bristol University. In 1956 she returned to England to learn about commercial canning. To promote manufacturing in Ghana, she joined up with others to form an association of manufacturers and helped to organise the first Made-in-Ghana fare in 1958. During this period, she became a prominent business leader and served as the first president of the Federation of Ghana Industries from 1959 to 1961. She also became the Executive Chairman of the National Food and Nutrition Board of Ghana in 1964.[v]

Esther Ocloo’s passion for helping other women stemmed from her first-hand experience of the difficulty in accessing capital as a woman. Speaking to Stella Addo of the Daily Graphic in January 1971, she indicated that she had started her business with a gift of ten shillings from her aunt who was a teacher.[vi] The establishment of WWB was one way of alleviating the difficulties of aspiring businesswomen in poor countries. She became its first chairman of the Board of Directors and served in this capacity into the mid-1980s. She also became an advisor to the National Council on Women and Development from 1976 to 1986, member of the National Economic Advisory Committee from 1978 to 1979, and member of the Council of State from 1979 to 1981. She received the Africa Prize for Leadership in 1990.

Professor Florence Abena Dolphyne, a contemporary of Esther Ocloo and one who worked closely with her to help improve the conditions of women in Ghana, had this to say about her commitment to the economic empowerment of women:

“Mrs Ocloo made it a point to make sure that [WWB] performed well because it was Ghana’s special gift to the world, as it were. Just before she passed on, she had gone round [the WWB branches] to make sure that they were functioning very well. She wasn’t feeling too well but I think there was something that was prompting her to make sure that she goes and make sure that every place was working. So, she went from Accra to Takoradi, then to Kumasi and came back, and within a week we lost her. So, sometimes you know, when people call me about women’s something or other, you somehow have a certain attachment, that you have an obligation to help the people because somebody actually risked her life for that.”[vii]

As a true pioneer of microlending and champion of women’s economic empowerment, Esther Ocloo deserves credit on the same level as Muhammad Yunus. When assessing her legacy, it is important to consider the difficulties she had to overcome in her efforts to improve women’s access to credit and other banking services. Apart from the personal sacrifice of time and resources, Mrs Ocloo established her bank during one of the most turbulent periods of Ghana’s history. Particularly, her aim of empowering women financially would have put her in the crosshairs of some of the military rulers of the 1970s and 1980s who had fallen into the habit of blaming entrepreneurial women for the economic woes of the country. There can be no doubt that, through her work with WWB worldwide and in Ghana, she has contributed directly to the economic wellbeing of numerous women and their families. This is in addition to the many jobs that have been created through WWB over the decades.

Unfortunately, the recent microcredit crisis in Ghana has exposed the vulnerability of many MFIs, including the WWB branch in Ghana. There is no doubt that its collapse has had negative consequences for its clients across the country. Indeed, notwithstanding the dubious lending practices of some MFIs, research findings in Ghana have shown that many women find microcredit useful in meeting their modest life goals.[viii] In addition to establishing and expanding income-generating activities of their own, women invest some of their loans in their children’s education. Unable to save money over long periods, the loans offer them the bulk sums needed to pay the educational expenses of their children. They then repay the credit institutions in weekly installments from their income-generating activities.

The legacy of Mrs Ocloo and WWB remains an important part of the history of women’s financial inclusion in Ghana and the world. For several decades now, WWB has provided a vital service to women around the world, and the woman who, more than anyone, has been responsible for its existence, particularly in Ghana, deserves her place in our history.