Lawrence Agyinsam
STAKEHOLDERS COMPRISING players in the private sector, policy makers and representatives from government agencies in the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have adjudged “Tuesday Market” by the Ghana Export-Import Bank (GEXIM) as the best SME Development Initiative.
Commending the GEXIM for using the “Tuesday Market” platform to create awareness for Made-In-Ghana products and harnessing their potential for exports, most stakeholders advocated the building of capacities of small and medium-sized enterprises to improve their standards to enable them compete on the global market.
Elaborating on the motive for the initiative, Lawrence Agyinsam, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Export-Import Bank indicated that the “Tuesday Market” project was positioned to showcase the businesses and also serve as a revenue generation platform.
“The Tuesday Market is a novelty from GEXIM Bank to showcase the SMEs we are financing. For Ghana to become an export led economy, we think the SMEs hold the future of the country. It is therefore important to let the populace know how creative our SMEs are and the need to know what they are doing and patronize them,” he added.
Commenting of the “Tuesday Market”, Rosemary Archer, Head, International Co-operation of GEXIM Bank who is directly responsible for the initiative said “among other things, this unique platform is to help SMEs to be able to add value to their products. We want to offer a platform to champion the adoption of the right packaging, appropriate branding and the requisite marketing needed by the small and medium-sized enterprises to scale up to the next level.”
Held once a month, GEXIM organized seven editions of the “Tuesday Market” in 2019, with almost 200 businesses in participation. It was an opportunity for the businesses to showcase their well packaged products for the export market, improve their network as well as receive financial and advisory support.