Kosi Yankey-Ayeh
THE GHANA Enterprises Agency (GEA) says it has received over 1,000 entries from small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) who have expressed interest in accessing grant facilitated by the government and funded by the World Bank.
This comes barely two weeks after the agency under the Ministry of Trade and Industry had opened its portal for the GH¢145 million Covid-19 Response Grant Programme with application deadline set for July 21, 2021.
Chief Executive Officer of the GEA, Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, who made this known during an interview with journalists at a stakeholders’ forum on the Covid-19 Response Grant programme, said the essence of the grant was to grow enterprises that had shown signs of sustainability and resilience.
She noted that the initiative was part of government’s efforts at promoting private investments, sustaining businesses, ensuring business innovation and improving competitiveness as well as growth to support the economy.
It was focused on non-resource-based sectors such as agro-processing, manufacturing, textiles and garments, food and beverages, tourism and hospitality, pharmaceutical and companies which are into the production of personal protective equipment (PPE), she explained.
The grant, unlike the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme Business Support Scheme (CAPBuSS), which focused on micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs), was solely for SMEs that had been impacted negatively by the pandemic.
“This fund is to help them propel growth to ensure they also employ people while business continues but they have to have a business with employees from six to 100 to qualify,” she noted.
In a presentation, the Grant Manager, Sam Agbaga, said the grant would be competitively awarded using pre-determined criteria jointly established by a local team of experts and the World Bank as the business of beneficiaries would be monitored to ensure that the funds were serving the intended purpose.
He disclosed that businesses, would among other things, be required to submit their financial statements for the years 2017 to 2020 while businesses that commenced operations after 2017 must submit at least the 2019 and 2020 financial statements.
He said the grants could be used to support activities such as salary payments, purchase of raw materials, equipment purchases, fees and subscriptions, among others.
By Issah Mohammed