SMEs urged to form linkages to stimulate growth

Owners of Small-Scale and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have been urged to be innovative and form linkages to achieve optimal performance and returns.

That was the path to travel to remain competitive in the market and to boost their attraction to investors.

Reverend Ndebugre Huruna, a Lecturer at the Cape Coast Technical University (CCTU) gave the advice at a day's workshop organized by the Central Regional Chamber of Commerce for SMEs in the Region, at Cape Coast on Tuesday.

The workshop was aimed at creating a network of entrepreneurs for business growth and responsible financing, considering the fact that SMEs constituted about 90 per cent of businesses in the country.

The Lecturer urged SMEs to stick to good corporate governance and adopt best practices, saying "enterprises must focus on doing the right things to keep them going".

Mr Haruna who is also a Council Member of the Chamber announced that his outfit had rolled out numerous interventions to stimulate growth in the sector and urged businesses to take advantage of them.

Mr Anthony Yoofi Poku-Aikins, Chairman of the Regional Chamber of Commerce, reminded Government of the need to promote and prioritise its unflinching support to SMEs.

He said SMEs played a vital role in sustaining Ghana's economy to achieve its development objectives through job creation, poverty alleviation, and immense contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

"It is indisputable that given the necessary support, the SMEs could become key parts of the nation’s economy creating jobs and wealth for the population," he said.

To this end, he called on Government and stakeholders to give technological and financial support to SMEs to expand and create employment for the youth.

He expressed the need for financial institutions to do more to offer SMEs flexible access to soft loans and grants for mutual benefits.

Mr Poku-Aikins said: "It is also important to bring down the high-interest charges on loans by the banks to make borrowing affordable to SMEs and introduce innovative and flexible products targeted at these businesses to facilitate their access to credit."