The National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) has disclosed that some 102,361 applicants have benefited from the GHC1 billion stimulus package.
Speaking in an interview, the Executive Director of the NBSSI Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, said over GHC100 million have been disbursed to the said applicants as more are yet to also benefit from the package.
Although, among applicants, there have been some concerns with the stipulated funds, due to its insufficiency, the NBSSI boss noted that demographics have largely informed some of the varying concerns who have demanded for more funds.
“It is important to note the request varied per person and it was interesting to see the breakdown of funds and the request that came in. I remember one time, one person asking me what I am going to do with GHC1, 000 or GHC500. But it’s very interesting that if you look at the demographics of the country and based on the districts or the region that was applying, there was actually a way or an amount of funds that they were looking for because of the requests they needed either to support the materials… that is what really fit with the work that they had”.
Kosi Yankeh-Ayeh
“The highest amount requested in the entire portfolio, there were some people that asked for GHC 5,000,000, there were some that asked for GHC500, 000 or GHC300, 000. For the micro, the highest was GHC2, 000, and that was the maximum for the Adom component”.
Categorization was largely done based on the segmentation of micro, small and medium enterprise, with primary focus on needs.
“Bear in mind that we were not looking to expand businesses, we were trying as much as possible to sustain you over a certain period. So you have people who were asking maybe to pay some salaries, or some working capital, or some raw materials, and within their domain that is what the highest from Adom was, GHC 2,000 request”.
Pertaining to applicants who are yet to receive their funds, Kosi opined that analysis of the request are still being undertaken, with the NBSSI employing due diligence and assessment considering the numbers that have applied.
“In terms of the payment, we haven’t finished making payments to beneficiaries and we will continue to make those payments as I mentioned, to ensure that people have what they need and to serve as many people as possible”.
Based on statistics and data available on the number of SMEs in the country, Kosi Yankeh disclosed that they had underestimated turnout, as projected number of applicants by her outfit was 200,000.
“But it was interesting to see that when we opened the applications, the first few days I wasn’t sure people were going to go online and apply… and before we realized we had over 800,000 applicants and so you realize that there are more MSMEs in the informal sector than we ever thought we even had”.
The government in April this year announced it would roll out a ¢600 million stimulus packaged targeted at Small and Medium Scale Enterprises.
The facility is being managed by the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) and would have KPMG as its technical partner.
