MSMEs urged to embrace technology for business sustainability

Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, Minister of Information, has urged Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to embrace technology for resilience and expansion as they strive to be competitive globally.

He said innovation and ingenuity had become a necessity for all contemporary enterprises that wanted to survive in a world characterised by competition, technological change and recurring crises.

He said this at the closing ceremony of a project dubbed “ACP Digi project in Ghana”, it was on the theme: “Our Journey to Building the Digital Capacity of MSMEs In Ghana Post COVID”.

Mr Nkrumah said MSMEs formed part of the subsectors of businesses in Ghana, therefore MSMEs must be prioritised for efficiency and sustainable development.

“It is gladdening to note that MSMEs have embraced the idea and are now using technology in their businesses and are beginning to adopt measures and strategies to cope with the new normal,” he added.

He called on all to use the digital platforms to create market avenues for their products, to help increase sales and improve productivity.

He said with increased demand and ready markets through online activities, it was expected that businesses would be able to increase their output, attract the needed funds to expand and upgrade the quality of their services to the acquired taste that we are all used to.

Mr Tsonam Akpeloo, Chief Executive of Suku Technologies Limited, said digital innovation was a potential solution that could introduce efficiencies into MSMEs to strengthen them.

He said in both developed and developing economies, SMEs were considered as an engine for economic growth, and they did not only contribute to the growth of national GDP but also contributed to the reduction of unemployment.

He said the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic reduced physical contact and forced many to resort to online working systems, reduced the cost of labour in certain organisations while the needed results were still met.

Speaking on businesses adopting digital transformation, he said it would help business owners use virtual solutions in their meetings, use electronic-commerce with regards to their marketing activities and take advantage of electronic-transactions, while tapping into security systems to scale up their businesses.

Speaking on the training, he said participants had tools, which allowed them to sell their products through online portals, payments applications and social media.

He said over 1,071 business owners benefited from the training, equipping them to be tech savvy.

Mr Akpeloo encouraged MSMEs to leverage the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement to enable them trade across other African countries.

He called on stakeholders to invest in training the youth on digital media technology to enable them to create jobs for themselves and contribute to improving the local economy.