Some applicants interacting with NBSSI applicants
OVER 600 owners of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the Greater Accra Region reached out to personnel of the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) when the NBSSI held ‘A Day Out’ programme.
Most of the applicants who gathered at the forecourt of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) enquired about the status of their application for the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme Business Support Scheme (CAPBuss).
Others, since the CAPbuss application elapsed, were rolled onto other programmes such as the ‘Nkosuo’, a resilience programme initiated by the NBSSI in partnership with Mastercard Foundation under the Young Africa Works initiative.
The Public Relations Coordinator of NBSSI, Keskine Owusu Poku, disclosed that so far, about 800,000 successful CAPBuSS applications had been received, out of which more than 240,000 businesses had received disbursements.
He advised prospective applicants to be wary of people who demand money from them to facilitate the process of application and disbursement of any stimulus package offered by NBSSI.
“There are people who want to apply for the schemes but do not know how to start and there are people who do not know how to handle the online application. We do not want anybody to pay money to anybody for these services and that is why we are creating these opportunities to assist them,” he said.
A book trader, Linda Okine, said she received an approval letter for her disbursement after she earlier applied to access the stimulus package due to the Covid-19 pandemic which negatively affected her since schools remained closed for the past six months.
“As a book seller, we deal with students and the students are at home. If children are going to school, they will come and buy it. But now, they are at home, so I can say the business has collapsed,” she revealed.
A beverage dealer, Matthew Amoah, on his part, said he followed up on his application as he had not heard anything from NBSSI since he applied for the loan some months ago.
After laying off three of his workers due to the pandemic, the stimulus package of GH₵3,500, he disclosed, was vital in resuscitating his business.
By Issah Mohammed