Thomas Thompson Essel

Mr. Thomas Thompson Essel is the  Secretary General at the African Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (AFRACA). He brings a wealth of experience from the  Economic and Development sectors.

Prior to joining AFRACA, he worked at the Bank of Ghana for over twenty-two years holding different positions with the latest being Head of External Financial Relations and Head of the Bank of Ghana-initiative “Ghana Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending” (GIRSAL) where he provided strategic and technical guidance to the team and management.

Mr. Essel has considerable experience in policy, having worked at Bank of Ghana and  in the Policy Coordination, Monitoring and Evaluation Unit of the Office of the President of the Republic of Ghana for two years. He  boasts of vast  experience in research, international relations and rural finance.

Mr. Essel holds a bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences and a Masters’ Degree in Development Studies from the University of Cape Coast in Ghana. He has undertaken several courses and programmes in Economics and agricultural related areas.  Below are some of the publications he has co-authored.

1.  Ekumah E.K. and T. T. ESSEL. ILO 2003. Information is Power : The Problem with Credit Accessibility in Rural Banks in Ghana. IFLIP (The Impact of Financial Sector Liberalization on the Poor) Research Paper 03-12
2. Ekumah E. K. and T. T. ESSEL. ILO 2001. Gender access to credit under Ghana’s financial sector reform: A Case Study of Two Rural Banks in the Central Region of Ghana.
3.  Thomas T. Essel & Michael A. Newsome. 1998. Effectiveness of Institutional Credit for Rural Development in Africa: A Control-Case
   of Rural Banks in Ghana. In Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa Vol.2, No.1