THE OPERATIONS OF SAVINGS AND LOANS AND THE PERFORMANCES OF BUSINESSES IN ACCRA

Savings and Loans operations in Ghana represent significant development and performance of most businesses and therefore maintaining these Savings and Loans operations is important. However, there seems to be paucity of studies on the operations of savings and loans companies’ effects on the performances of businesses in general and Greater Accra in particular. This research seeks to bridge this knowledge gap by analyzing the operations of savings and loans companies’ effects on the performances of businesses in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. The study will be guided by three research objectives. Study methods include the use of questionnaire for data analysis. A total of 40 respondents (20 staff of Savings and Loans companies and twenty (20) small business operators (men and women) who took part in this study were randomly purposively selected. The results indicate that small businesses in Accra township sourced start-up capital from savings and loans companies, personal savings and support from friends and families. It also emerged from the study that the business operators that were unable to receive entire amount requested from the financial institutions attributed it to failure to meet the credit requirements, failure to provide the required collateral security and the absence of active account with the financial institutions. Again the study found that credit received by the business operators in Accra township was utilized for the expansion of business. The study further found that business operators in Accra township are confronted with several challenges in accessing credit facilities from Savings and Loans Companies. These challenges include bureaucracy, lack of opportunity to take second loan, high risk and uncertainty, high level of interest rate on credit, low level of knowledge about credit sourcing and shorter repayment period. It is recommended that to enhance small and medium business operators in Accra township access and acquisition of credit facilities from Savings and Loans companies should be efficiently utilized. Keywords: Operations, Savings and Loans, Performance, Businesses, Accra.