Kosi Yankey-Ayeh
The National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) has launched a Business Support Organisation (BSO) Directory which grants Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSME) access to organisations that provide varying support services to businesses in the country.
The BSO directory consisted mostly of women-focused support organisations that provide tailor-made solutions to address challenges Ghanaian business women faced.
Designing and hosting of the directory formed part of NBSSI’s contribution to the SheTrades Commonwealth project which intends to increase economic growth and job creation in Commonwealth Countries through the increased participation of Women-Owned Businesses (WOB).
The International Trade Centre (ITC), a joint agency of the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations is responsible for the implementation of the project that would connect about 3 million women to various markets by 2021.
Speaking at the launch in Accra, the Executive Director of NBSSI, Kosi Yankey-Ayeh said providing information to WOB was crucial to growing businesses especially at a time when economies around the world were trying to recover from economic downturn induced by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We at NBSSI had done a lot to support MSME across the country. We have built capacity and we have provided them with access to finance.
What we have not done much is provide access to information” She said.
She noted that collaboration between the ITC and NBSSI would help create a level playing field for women entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.
List of organisations in the directory she noted was non-exhaustive as other organisations would be added to the directory which could be accessed online via the NBSSI website and in other versions.
The Programme Manager of the SheTrades Commonwealth, Simon Balfe said that the development of the directory was based on the outcome of a research that highlighted lack of access to information as a major challenge to most women entrepreneurs.
He, therefore, pledged the commitment of the project to overseeing the growth of WOB in Ghana and other commonwealth countries.
By Issah Mohammed