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Who we are

  • Our VisionTo become the preferred financial institution for small businesses in Ghana.

  • Our MissionProvide client centric financial services to small businesses and low and middle income employees and individuals in a sustainable and responsible manner.

Our values

Open

Committed

Entrepreneurial

Innovative

Our shareholders

The Board of Directors

Ben Berko, Chairman of the Board

Ben Berko has 31 years of experience in Retail, SME and Corporate Banking business covering sales, client relationship, and risk management. This experience spans 10 years as Branch Manager at several outlets, Head of Business Credit Administration & Leasing having responsibility for Credit/Business risk analysis. 

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He retired from the bank as Head of Corporate Banking from the Societe Generale Bank in December 2014, and is now a Banking/Investment Consultant. He holds an MBA[Finance], BA[Political Science/Philosophy] both degrees from the University of Ghana and he is a graduate of The FinAfrica Institute[Milan, Italy] from where he obtained a Diploma in Advance Economics of Banking.

Ben joined the Board of Directors of Advans Ghana in June 2015. He is an Independent Director since June 2015 and Chairman of the Board since April 2019.

Sydney O. Vanderpuye, Independent Director

Sydney O. Vanderpuye has 18 years of experience in Corporate Finance and Management. He is the Director for Finance and Accounts at the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development. Sydney led the first-time adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the IFRS 9 implementation process. 

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He currently holds the position of an Honorary Treasurer of Global Network of Export Import Banks and Development Financial Institutions (G-NEXID) since July 2018. Sydney has held roles and served in various organizations such as of Chief Finance Officer at Societe Generale Ghana (SG). He also served in Intercontinental Bank Ghana limited/Access Bank, Ernst and Young (Ghana), London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, and Vodi Technik.

Sydney joined Advans Ghana’s Board as an Independent Director in August 2019.

Amma B. Benneh-Amponsah, Independent Director

Amma B. Benneh-Amponsah has for the past eighteen years led and implemented talent resourcing & management, employee development, workplace culture enhancing programs and initiatives to define and enhance overall business performance. 

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Amma is the Human Resource Executive for MTN Ghana (Scancom Limited), a role she assumed since 2008 wiht the responsibility to oversee a Learning Academy for 9 countries in West & Central Africa. She has worked with the company since 2001 to date, going through various roles such as Senior Human Resource Lead 2001-2003, 2003 to 2007 - Senior Manager - Human Resources.

Before joining MTN Amma worked with Shencare, Birmingham UK as the Human resource advisor 1999-2000, Amma served on the boards of trustees of Enterprise Life and the Institute of ICT Professionals Ghana (IIPGH) Chairperson of the board of trustees for the MTN Ghana Pension & Provident fund. 

Amma joined Advans Ghana’s Board as an Independent Director in July 2019.

Olivier Bailly-Béchet, Executive member of the Board

Olivier Bailly-Béchet is an Executive member of the Board since April 2019.

Brieuc Cardon, Non-Executive member of the Board

Brieuc Cardon has a solid background in Economics with twenty years’ experience. He joined the Advans Group in January 2010 and was the CEO of Advans Ghana between 2013 and 2017. 

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Prior to joining the Advans Group, he gathered over 11 years continuous working experience in SME and Finance at ING, an International Financial Group based in the Netherlands as a Relationship Manager for SME’s and became Head of Account Management for Corporate Clients in 2008. Brieuc is currently the CEO of Advans Tunisia.  Brieuc, a Belgian, is multilingual (French, English, Italian, Spanish and Dutch). He was made an executive director of the board in September 2013 and currently sits on the board as a non-executive member.

Veronica Tscharf, Non-Executive member of the Board

Veronica Tscharf works at KfW, Frankfurt am Main (a shareholder of Advans Ghana) and is a Principal Project Manager at KfW Development Bank West Africa since May, 2010. She is responsible for the financial sector/ microfinance projects in Sénégal, Nigeria and all regional projects in West Africa. 

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Prior to joining KfW, she worked at one of the big four international accounting and advisory firms as a Consultant for a advising financial institutions on corporate transactions and before that for the German stock exchange. Veronika is a Non-Executive member of the Board since June 2015.

Solène Le Bleis, Non-Executive member of Board

Solène Le Bleis is currently Investment Officer with Advans International based in France. She is responsible for overseeing financial and operating performance of Advans microfinance institutions in Ghana, Myanmar and Tunisia. 

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Before joining Advans International, she worked as a Project Officer with Oikocredit in the Netherlands where she was responsible for providing financial and technical support to MFIs and SME banks in North and Sub-Saharan African countries. Solène holds a Master’s degree in Applied Geoeconomics from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques of Bordeaux, France and a Master’s degree, with a specialization in Economics and Finance, from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques of Rennes, France. Her areas of specialization include financial inclusion and economic development and she has thorough knowledge of financial sectors in North and Sub-Saharan Africa. Solène is a Non-Executive member of the Board since August 2017.

Our Team

Olivier Bailly-Béchet, CEO

Olivier Bailly-Béchet has a solid background in economics and business management and 23-years’ experience in financial services, management and financial inclusion. 

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He has acquired a strong working knowledge of microfinance operations, notably with regards to defining products and credit methodologies, defining and implementing policies and procedures, planning, training, network development/management, and sales team management. Since joining Advans International in 2003, Olivier has held different positions both in subsidiaries and at Group level. He was CEO of Finadev Chad and then launched 2 subsidiaries as COO / Deputy CEO at Advans Cameroun and Advans Côte d'Ivoire. He became Group Head of Credit at Advans International in 2014 and was also sitting on the Board of Directors & Audit Committee in different subsidiaries like Advans Bank Tanzania, Advans Pakistan and Advans Cameroun. Olivier was appointed as a Project Manager for Advans Ghana in April 2018 before becoming Managing Director/CEO of Advans Ghana. Before joining the Advans group, Olivier gathered experience with France Active (member of the “Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations” Group), the Microfinance African Institutions Network (MAIN) and the Société d'Investissement et de Développement International (SIDI). Olivier is an Executive member of the Board since April 2019.

Francis Owiredu, Deputy CEO

Francis Owiredu is a Chartered Accountant and member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (Ghana). He has over 10 years professional experiences across the Manufacturing Industry and the Shipping Industry.

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Prior to joining Advans Ghana in 2009, he was the Financial Accountant at MOL Ghana Limited and later Financial Reporting Manager at Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited.

Barbara Odei, Chief Sales and Distribution Officer

Barbara Odei joined Advans Ghana with vast experience and exposure in Microfinance. She has over ten years microfinance experience in areas of Credit management, Branch management, Human Resources management and Organizational development. 

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She holds a degree from the University of Cape Coast and an MBA in Finance from Methodist University College. She has attended several work shops and seminars organized by Bank of Ghana, Banking College, Gamey & Gamey, among others.

Sylvester Wilson, Chief Finance Officer

Sylvester is a Chartered Accountant (ACCA) with over 12 years experience in the financial services industry. His experience spans across accounting and reporting, financial analysis, treasury and capital markets.

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Prior to joining Advans Ghana, Sylvester worked with Glico Capital as Finance and Compliance Officer and later promoted to Corporate Finance Manager. He joined Advans Ghana as Senior Accountant, rose through the ranks to attain the Chief Accountant role then later promoted to Deputy Chief Finance Officer.

Sylvester holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics with mathematics from the University of Ghana.

Mary Offei, Chief Human Resource Officer

Mary Offei is an HR professional with over ten years of managerial and non-managerial experience in Human Resources Management and Customer Experience within the Telecom and Financial space with a vast experience in HR Talent Acquisition, Learning and Development with in-depth skills in designing and executing programs for talents, Training and Recruitment.

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Since joining Advans Ghana as Deputy Manager HRM, Mary has been responsible for Talent Acquisition and Development and implementation of Employee Training initiatives and Strategies for continues skills and knowledge acquisition. Prior to working with Advans, she was an Assistant Manager, Learning and Development, Assistant Manager, Talent Acquisition with Airtel Ghana, where she was responsible for all recruitment’s activities, employee learning and development initiatives. She also worked in Airtel as a Self Service and Platforms Lead (Customer Service) IVR Executive. She holds a Master of Business Administration, HRM and Bachelor of Arts (Psychology with Linguistics) from the University of Ghana, Legon.

Jean - Brice Robert, Chief Business Development Officer

Jean-Brice has 20 years of experience in Digital and Innovative Products and Services & entrepreneurship. During the first 10 years, he was mostly providing short and long-term strategic consultancy to various big corporate companies in Europe, Algeria and Cote d’Ivoire to help them in defining and implementing their digital strategy and designing and launching new products.

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He co-founded 2 companies specialized in providing Payment technology and infrastructure to MNOs, banks, financial services operators and distribution networks and in digitalizing and modernizing Healthcare ecosystems in Europe and various West African countries (Senegal, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Nigeria, etc.). 

He graduated from Institut Politique de Strasbourg (France) in Economics & Finance and holds a Master in Direct Marketing and eCommerce at Skema Lille Business School (France).

Prosper Dalton Akati, Chief Risk Officer

Prosper has over 10 years of experience in the UK and Ghana, especially around key Risk functions such as Operational risk management, Compliance and Anti-Money Laundering, Enterprise risk management, Fraud risk management and Recovery.

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Prosper previously worked for Bayport Savings & Loans and throughout his career, his different positions both in UK & Ghana have spanned several senior and middle management functions like Analyst, Risk and Research, Deputy Internal Auditor, forensic analytics manager and deputy manager for risk, compliance and AML. 

Among others, Prosper is an associate member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (USA), a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors and a graduate of  Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (BSc Materials Engineering)  and  Glasgow Caledonian University, (U.K) in Financial Services, Risk and Operations (MSc)