Bahrain-based Al Ebdaa Bank for Microfinance has appointed 25 new loan specialists after they had completed a specialised training session organised in cooperation with the Arab Gulf Programme for Development (Agfund).

Newly-appointed employees attended rehabilitation courses to train them on the micro-financing skills. They were informed about the history of microfinance and its development by Professor Muhammad Yunus through his successful experience of establishing the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh in 1972. They were also made aware of the importance of the credit and personal analysis of borrowers, and the need to follow up on the development of their enterprises and motivate them to pay their instalments according to schedule.

Dr Khalid Al-Gazawi, CEO of Al Ebdaa Bank, said the move was within the framework of the bank’s efforts to expand its operations in the kingdom and support its staff with qualified employees who are capable of boosting the bank’s lending and financing policies.

“We have embarked on a new expansion phase through the launch of a new strategy that includes the opening of new branches in South and Muharraq provinces,” he said.

“We also seek to promote our financing products and serve more clients, and this requires a steady increase in the number of the bank’s staff to meet the requirements of the current and future expansions, and to reach the largest possible number of low-incomers who want to start their new enterprises, or those who need to develop and expand their existing ones,” he added.

Al-Gazawi, who had worked in many countries, including Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and the US before coming to Bahrain, expressed admiration for the level of Bahraini competencies in the banking and financing industry.

“We are proud that the Bahrainisation rate at the Al-Ebdaa Bank has exceeded 94 per cent, and we are moving towards further raising it, especially amid the availability of national competencies that are capable of achieving excellence in the bank’s work and attaining its pre-set goals,” he said.

“We recruited 26 employees in August 2016, and we announced the appointment of 25 others for the bank today,” he said, adding that “most of the 25 new staffers are women, and this proves anew the distinction of Bahraini women and their ability to hold key posts in the financial industry”. – TradeArabia News Service