In the quiet farming community of Gudaayiri in the Wa East District of the Upper West Region, a young farmer, Iddrisu Aminu, is redefining what it means to be a changemaker.
For years, Aminu tilled the land—growing soybeans, maize, rice, and yams to sustain his family and support his community. Yet beyond the fields, he carried a vision that reached far past planting and harvesting.
That vision found wings when he joined the Harnessing Agricultural Productivity and Prosperity for Youth (HAPPY) Program through the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Navrongo-Bolgatanga Catholic Diocesan Development Organisation (NABOCADO).
He was later enrolled on the E-HAPPY Program—an initiative by the Mastercard Foundation in partnership with Agri-Impact Limited and the KNUST E-Learning Center.
E-HAPPY empowers young people to design digital and innovative solutions that strengthen Ghana’s agribusiness sector.
During the training, Aminu noticed a challenge close to home: many members of his community struggled with financial management.
Local Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC) relied heavily on manual calculations, and errors in savings, loan contributions, and record-keeping often left members frustrated.
“I realized my community needed a simple, reliable way to manage their finances,” Aminu recalls. “That’s when I decided to create something to help them.”
With new digital skills and mentorship from the program, Aminu developed an interactive financial management platform in Excel, which he named Lamgyinbo.
Lamgyinbo goes beyond basic bookkeeping. It records both individual and group weekly savings, tracks interest earned, manages loans given out, monitors loan repayments and lateness debits, and automatically generates clear financial statements.
The platform also provides timely information on what is due for every individual, ensuring members know their exact financial status at any given moment.
In short, it gives SILC groups a complete, transparent, and reliable picture of their finances.
“Before this platform, we had to calculate everything one by one using calculators—sometimes repeating it ten times to get it right. Now, the app does it instantly,” Aminu says with a smile.
Already, three SILC groups in Gudaayiri and neighbouring towns are using Lamgyinbo, saving time and improving accuracy in their financial activities.
Members can now check their savings, interest, and loans instantly, with no mistakes and no delays.
Aminu is now focused on improving the app and expanding its reach so that more communities can benefit from simplified, trustworthy financial management.
His journey is proof of what happens when young people are given the tools, skills, and confidence to turn problems into solutions—not just for themselves, but for entire communities.
