The Executive Director of the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI), Kosi Yankeh-Ayeh, has disclosed that over 200, 000 businesses have benefited from the stimulus package.
These businesses according to Mrs. Kosi Yankeh-Ayeh, have currently received 390 million Ghana Cedis from the GHC1billion COVID-19 fund to support their businesses.
“It’s important to note that over 800,000 applicants came through for the program, which is unprecedented. Currently, we have reached about 200,000 beneficiaries and there’s more in line.
“What was given to the about 200,000 people was GHC390 million…in every region and district, there’s a beneficiary from there. If you look at the information we received during the application, 80% were micro-businesses, which is characteristic of the Ghanaian economy. Some people have received as little as GHc500 based on the information they provided and some have received as much as GHc1, 500.”
According to the NBSSI boss, no sector within the country heavily impacted by the pandemic has been exempted from the program.
She further indicated that a lot more businesses stand to benefit from the package as her outfit isn’t quite done yet with the disbursement of funds.
Elsewhere, Mrs. Kosi Yankeh has lauded government interventions through her outfit, via the provision of support to the youth in diverse ways.
One of such ways, she noted, is the disbursement of funds through the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme (CAP) Business Support Scheme, an initiative meant to deal with the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) predominantly owned by the youth.
She explained that through key government interventions, the NBSSI has been able to substantially reduce the high unemployment rate in the country as well as maximize the contribution of small businesses to the country’s economic and social development.
“The MSMEs that we have supported over the years have focused on supporting and building and strengthening businesses across the entire nation. Our setup and mandate is set up in a way that we support a decentralized system across the nation.
“Many people wonder, what were we doing and what have we done? And the records tell the story. From 2017 to January of this year, we have facilitated over 36 million Ghana cedis in access to finance, which is the core and a pillar of the work that we do”.
The Ghanaian economy, according to Mrs. Yankey-Ayeh, is mostly informal and a lot of the youth businesses are within the informal sector, as a result the work of the Board “has been to move these businesses from where they are to another level”.
“This is unprecedented considering the work that the Board had been doing overtime”.
Additionally, over three hundred thousand programs have been implemented across the nation in almost every district across this nation.
Stressing on the relevance of the youth in nation building, Mrs. Yankeh-Ayeh noted that the Young Africa Works project in partnership with the MasterCard foundation was birth.
“The target of the Young Africa Works project in partnership with the MasterCard foundation in the next 10 years with other parties is to create three million jobs for the youth. Out of the three million jobs, 39,000 in the next two years will be implemented and designed”.
