Trade Minister opens Business Resource Centre in Agona Swedru

Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen, November 4, 2020 inaugurated a business resource centre (BRC) here at Agona Swedru in the Agona West Municipal in the Central Region to provide support services to businesses in the area.

The centre forms part of the Rural Enterprises Programme (REP),which seeks to enhance business growth in rural areas.

The minister reiterated the government's commitment to stimulate private sector growth to address unemployment challenges and improve lives in rural communities.

This, he said, required that the private sector was given the needed support to be able to explore business opportunities that would create sustainable jobs.

In this regard, he explained that, the centre was a one-stop enterprise support unit for businesses and decentralised offices of business regulatory agencies.

"We have introduced a number of initiatives to create the necessary conditions for the private sector to grow. This centre ensures that there is enabling government machinery that supports businesses.

"One key benefit is that businesses would be attracted to areas like here and not force their way to the cities, although their raw materials are here," he stated.

Mr Kyerematen said the centre would ensure decentralisation of interventions introduced by the government to facilitate private sector growth.

"What we seek to achieve is also to bring the regulatory agencies, including Ghana Standards Authority, Food and Drugs Authority, Registrar General's Department, Environmental Protection Agency close to businesses to easily access their services.

"We want to eliminate the added stress of coming to Accra to get their services. We have therefore linked all the regulatory agencies to the business resource centres, where people can easily access their services," he noted.

The centres, the minister explained, would also become decentralised service point for banks and insurance companies concerned with providing financial support for small businesses.

To ensure that the centre was effective in providing technical support to small businesses, Kyerematen noted that a pool of experts and consultants on various fields were on hand to assist the BRCs undertake their mandate.

Member of Parliament (MP) of Agona West Constituency and Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Cynthia Mamle Morrison, said the centre was an important facility to enable small businesses in the constituency to gain valuable knowledge to grow.

Starting next week, she noted that the centre would serve as a training facility for her initiative to train more than 500 youth in the constituency for employable skills, including hairdressing, dressmaking and baking.

Nana Kweku Asiani, Benkumhen of Agona Swedru, urged the Municipal Assembly to liaise with managers of the centre to institute an effective maintenance culture to keep the facility in good shape.

In a related development, the minister interacted with staff of the Assin Fosu BRC and charged them to look for small businesses in the area and support them to expand.