NBSSI to establish Business Incubators

The National Board for Small-Scale Industries (NBSSI), intends to establish Four Business Incubators in Ashanti, Greater-Accra, Northern and Central Regions, on a pilot basis.

Mr Lukman Abdul-Rahim, Executive Director of the NBSSI, who made this disclosure in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra, explained that by business incubation, the Board will utilize the concept of incubation in Agriculture or Animal Husbandry, and put together start-up, as well as practising businesses.

Mr Abdul-Rahim said, they will be made to take advantage of resources, information, and targeted capacity building, to address pertinent challenges in their businesses over a specified period of time, adding that at the Board’s training centre, the incubates will spend between six months and one year.

Furthermore, he said, NBSSI is to implement small-scale district industrialization initiatives in 30 pilot districts across the country.

Mr Abdul-Rahim intimated that with technical support from JICA of Japan, the Board will soon start a project, that is, the introduction of the KAIZEN Methodology, to small businesses, which he said, will impact positively on productivity.

He reiterated that NBSSI will continue to provide general Business Development Services (BDS) to small-scale enterprises, and support its clients with programmes that will enable them access various forms of credit available in the country.

He pledged the Board’s determination to create district offices, in order to bring BDS closer to the doorsteps of small businesses

The Executive Director said in order to achieve its desired aims and objectives; the Board will be required to have a qualified and competent human resource base.

‘We shall continue to upgrade competence of our staff, for them to continuously provide excellent services to small-scale businesses, to enable them become competitive, and be able to create jobs to increase incomes.’

Mr Abdul-Rahim said, currently NBSSI is collaborating with a host of private and public institutions to provide BDS for the growth and development of the private sector.

The institutions, he said, include the Ministry of Trade and Industry, EDIF, the Rural Enterprise Programme, Local Assemblies, the European Union (under the TRAQUE Programme), the Ghana Standards Authority, and JICA, among others.

The Executive Director stated further that the Board is currently working on a project with Cocoa Life, in cocoa-growing communities in the country, where the farmers are benefiting from BDS.