By Kofi Thompson
A little over two years ago, I wrote an article entitled "Let Us Create Africa's Best Business Environment In Ghana".
Little did I know then, that I would soon come to see an example of an effort underway by state agencies, in 160 districts across the country, to help create wealth and jobs in rural Ghana.
Today, I am glad to highlight an example from the Ga South District, of some of the interventions that have been put in place at the district level, to ensure that small and medium scale enterprises engaged in manufacturing in the Ga South District, can thrive - by exporting their products to sister African nations and elsewhere: and by so doing, help create jobs in the Ga South District.
To enable SME's in rural Ghana benefit from funding from the Export Development and Agricultural Investment Fund (EDAIF), which is meant to encourage the export of non-traditional products, the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) is collaborating with the EDAIF in a project to provide district-level SME's with business support services that will bring them up to a standard that will enable them benefit from the EDAIF.
In furtherance of that objective, the Weija office of the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI), which is located in the Ghana Industrial and Commercial Estate (GICEL), has selected 10 products and 20 manufacturing SME's in the Ga South District producing those products, to which it will provide capacity-building to enable them take up exporting.
It is district-level interventions like that that will help create wealth in our nation and provide employment for our people nationwide.
Kudos to the NBSSI and those in charge of the EDAIF (Ministry of Trade and Industry), for making it possible for district-level SME's to build their capacity for leveraging export markets. It will help transform local economies across rural Ghana - a really welcome development for the enterprise Ghana.
Email: peakofi.thompson@gmail.com
