OVER TWO hundred and seventy small and medium-sized business owners from the Bono Region have been sensitised to take advantage of the Growth and Opportunity (GO) programme by the government and its partners to grow small businesses.
The sensitisation workshop dubbed, ‘Stakeholders Sensitisation on SME Growth and Opportunity (SME GO) Breaking Barriers to SME Growth’ took place in Sunyani and brought together small and medium-skill entrepreneurs from across the region including woodworkers, poultry farmers, cocoa farmers, seamstresses, tailors, and hairdressers among others.
They were addressed by officials from the Finance Ministry, a senior business adviser from the Ghana Enterprise Agency( GEA) Juliana Bermah Adubofour, and the Regional Minister, Justina Owusu Awo Banahene.
A representative of the Finance Minister, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam underscored the importance of small and medium skills enterprises in an economy to youth employment.
According to him, the SME GO programme is an innovative opportunity launched by President Nana Akufo-Addo in July 2024, to assist small and medium-sized businesses financially and with technical support and know-how to grow their businesses and maximise interest.
He described SMEs as the lifeblood of job creation of the economy emphasing that the government is doing everything possible to resource them to generate more jobs for the teaming youth.
Giving statistics to support the assertion that SMEs are the lifeblood of the economy, he said 92% of all existing companies are SMEs and employ 70% of employees.
“Truly they are the heartbeat of the economy. So the Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade is engaging all SMEs across the 16 regions of the country to revamp them and give them expert knowledge to manage and grow their enterprises to generate income for their families and others,” he said.
‘We aim to encourage you to grow interest, make sure SMEs thrive, have knowledge in the management of your businesses and by giving two levels of capacity building.
He further highlighted various funds available for the programme including soft loans and grants.
These include GHS200m subsidy from the government, GHS500m from Ghana Exim Bank that shall be channelled through businesses under the One District One Factory( 1D1F), GHS1.5bn from the Development Bank of Ghana, and $400m from International Financial Corporation to give out non-commercial loans and grants to SMEs to grow their businesses.
In a presentation, a senior business adviser at the Ghana Enterprise Agency, Juliana Bermah Adubofour, explained the agency is going to engage all SMEs who will register and identify their problems such as lack of capital or machinery breakdown, and give support.
She explained further that the biggest loan one can access is GHS2m and it will attract only 9 percent interest payable within two years while the grant of GHS 150,000 is free.
She took the participants through businesses that are eligible to access loans and grants saying they should be in Agriculture and agro-processing industries like poultry farmers, animal husbandry, piggery, and cattle ranch.
Others are construction, concrete, and concrete products, wood products, food and beverages, the tourism and hospitality industry, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, and event management among others.
Bono Regional Minister, Justina Awo Owusu Banahene called for machinery to support them.
She, however, advised the beneficiaries against negative tendencies such as theft and unethical behaviors that would hinder future opportunities of the government and individuals to people in the region.
FROM Daniel Y Dayee, Sunyani