New bill to consolidate business certification for MSMEs underway

The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry (MoTI) in charge of Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) and Internal Trade, Kofi Ahenkorah Marfo, has revealed that the ministry has tabled a bill before parliament to foster MSME operations.

The bill, he emphasised, when passed into law will consolidate all business registration and certification processes from the various state agencies – such as the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Office of the Registrar of Companies (ORC) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) among other sector specifics.

“The ministry has initiated some business regulation reforms and drafted a bill to that effect, which is currently in parliament. The objective of this legislation is for us to shorten certain certifications, permits and other documents required for doing business,” he said.

He narrated that the heads of various regulatory institutions have been extensively engaged to build synergy and synchronise the systems for easy access and eliminating repetition.

Mr. Ahenkorah Marfo further emphasised that a timeline has been offered to tackle the bottlenecks seamlessly.

“The bureaucratic processes in obtaining certification and permit is the challenge with our business ecosystem, so the bill seeks to give regulators some strict timelines to comply with and avoid any serious challenges with documentation,” he elaborated.

Citing specific examples, the deputy minister stressed that through continuous engagement with the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), the process for obtaining a fire certificate has now been shortened to five days.

Another area of concern is land registration and obtaining building permits to fast-track the process of getting a business running to grow local productivity.

He made these remarks on the sidelines of the Ghana Mall launch – a new marketplace facility that provides a ready market for goods locally produced by MSMEs.

The Ghana Mall

The Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA) in partnership with Mastercard Foundation has launched the Ghana Mall, a flagship programme under the BizBox project that helps MSMEs get access to a ready market to trade their products and services.

Chief Executive Officer-GEA, Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, mentioned that the mall will provide over 800 local MSMEs an opportunity to showcase their made-in-Ghana goods to the public. She is optimistic that through this initiative small businesses will gain access to wider markets, thereby creating more employment.

“We are opening this facility because we strongly believe that the backbone of this economy is the MSMEs sector. We have a lot in store for the MSMEs, especially women-led ones and the youth of this country, as we are determined to see small businesses succeed and thrive,” she said.

Municipal Chief Executive-La Dadekotopon Municipal Assembly (LaDMA), Solomon Kotei Nikoi, expressed his excitement that the first Ghana Mall facility is located near Labone Junction within his jurisdiction, meaning business in the municipality stands a chance to benefit more. Further, the municipality will collaborate to ensure the initiative’s success.

Seth Twum-Akwaboah, CEO-Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), lauded the GEA and Mastercard for such a wonderful initiative that seeks to address one of the most critical needs of SMEs – which is access to markets. He further urged the partners to replicate their initiative across all regions.