The National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) in collaboration with the Ghana Standards Authority, Food and Drugs Authority and Registrar General’s Department and other agencies have assisted over 100 enterprises and individuals in the Western Region.
In a statement the Board affirmed that, the entrance of the Covid-19 pandemic has necessitated them to help young entrepreneurs and women.
Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises have been adversely impacted by the pandemic and as a result, the assistance from the Board is timely for the benefactors in the Prestea-Huni Valley Municipality and Wassa East District of the Western Region.
According to the NBSSI boss, the funding is to augment and expand existing businesses and to also encourage fledgling startups.
She said, “the women and youth entrepreneurs are WAGES Project Beneficiaries who are engaged in agro-processing, manufacturing, services and primary agricultural activities to create new jobs, increase income and better economic perspective for Ghana.”
Mrs. Kosi Ayeh
Mrs. Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, the Executive Director of the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) said “the overarching objective of the Project is to create new jobs, increase income and better economic perspective for Ghana. This resonates with the Government’s Ghana Beyond Aid Agenda which focuses on job and wealth creation and complements governments efforts to support enterprises in these times”.
She said that, it resonated with the government’s Beyond Aid Agenda which focused on job and wealth creation.
Also, “the fund is also in alignment with the Government’s Ten Point Agenda for Industrial Transformation being championed by the Ministry of Trade and Industry to accelerate the growth of the MSME Sector by providing timely interventions such as access to finance”.
The project, which commenced in 2016 for the first time, provided access to finance component to beneficiaries, who had received entrepreneurship and skills training from NBSSI in collaboration with WUSC.
Under the collaboration, NBSSI trained 673 beneficiaries in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management, out of which 200 were given additional training in packaging, branding, organizational safety, health and environmental management which are intended to equip them adequately for the business market.
Mrs. Yankey-Ayeh reiterated her outfit’s resolve and commitment to ensuring continual support of the beneficiaries in training, coaching and mentoring. She also vowed to ensure that the fund will be utilized for its intended purpose.
She said, “the Board is also committed to its mandate to promote and develop MSMEs in the wake of the current global economic downturn”.
The Country Director of World University Service of Canada, Ghana Mrs. Emelia Ayipio Asamoah said, the University had enjoyed a great working partnership with NBSSI since the commencement of the project, and looked forward to a more fruitful collaboration in their mutual quest to empower entrepreneurs, especially women and youth, to cope with the impact of COVID-19 in particular.
The project is reciprocally implemented in Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Guinea with the aim of breaking the vicious cycle in which local communities, especially women and youth, are excluded from the benefits of mining investments.
