REP's Navrongo trade and exhibition fair best so far

Navrongo (UE), June 5, GNA - The Rural Enterprise Project's trade fair and exhibition organized in Navrongo, has been described as the best so far in terms of patronage and sales for participants from Ghana and Burkina Faso.

Mr Abu Mahamadu, the Marketing Officer for the Rural Enterprise Project (REP) and organizer for the 2011 exhibition, said the event was the best so far in terms of sales because prices were moderate.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Navrongo on the last day of the exhibition on Saturday, he said most participants saw remarkable increased in revenues.

He urged people in the region and those, who visited the area for business, to patronize local products so as to encourage local producers to produce more.

He called on the unemployed and those in small businesses to contact th= e managers of REP for assistance to either start a job or expand what they were doing.

Mr Mahamadu said many of the clients, who were exhibiting their product= s at the fair, were previously unemployed, but with the assistance of REP in the form of training, they obtained the needed resources and capacity to produce.

Some of the products at the fair included honey, soap, smocks, rabbits, guinea fowls, grass cutter, local sandals and woven cloths. Mr David Akanda, one of the clients, expressed shock at how people patronized the goods and said the Rural Enterprise Project had helped those with talent and lacked initial capital to expand their businesses. "I least expected this, it is really amazing how people are patronizi= ng it, I wish this is done everyday," he said.

Mr B.A Sampson another beneficiary said he started at a very humble beginning when he could not even put a pesewa in his accounts but now with the help of the Rural Enterprise Project he was able to put more than GH¢= 300 in his account every year.

The REP was established in the Kassena-Nankana East District to provide opportunities for transfer of appropriate technology to boost the manufacturing and agro processing industry.

The first phase of the project started in 1995 and ended in 2000 and th= e current second phase that was started 2002 will end June this month.