By Eugene Davis
About 200 Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have participated in a day’s stakeholder engagement and orientation on the SME High Growth Programme, aimed at allowing for broader consultation in a bid to accelerate their growth in the country.
The SME High Growth Programme’s objective is to assist high-growth potential SMEs in boosting their productivity and competitiveness in order to hasten their growth. Women-owned businesses, businesses utilizing green technology, SMEs owned by young people, and businesses run by People with Disabilities (PWDs) will receive higher priorities.
Speaking with the press in Accra on Wednesday, during the sidelines of the event, CEO of Ghana Enterprises Agency, Mrs. Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, said “We realised that to be able to get people to apply and apply well, and to allow a broader stakeholder to be able to take advantage of the opportunity, we need to engage them more.
The reason we need to do that is if we want to build high private sector growth, then we need to look at how best to bring about that kind of transformation.
About 200 SMEs have come in to participate in today’s orientation, they were selected carefully by the associations to come together and those we have worked with in the past and have been able to use the support to transform their businesses to be a part of this,” she said.
Application opened
I know there were 2,000 people, you know this is a very concentrated programme -so 2,000 people have gone through the application process and we looking to have a revolving SME programme for them. So, we take the first and second batch and work with them. The focus is really technical assistance and then those who show success and have potential to grow would be given some form of funding.
GEA last month launched the new SME High Growth Programme to build upon and sustain the successes attained under the several SME-focused support programmes.
Additionally, a sum of US$20 million (in cedis equivalent) has been allocated for the flagship SME High Growth Program, and the program’s key distinguishing features include the provision of training in business and financial management, taxation, and regulatory compliance because the goal is to provide SMEs with practical knowledge of the Ghanaian tax system as well as the basic principles of taxation, information technology in business, and regulatory compliance.
Smaller enterprises should show that they have six (6) to thirty (30) employees and/or yearly sales of between GHS 180,000 and GHS 7.2 million, while medium-sized businesses should show that they have between 31 and 100 employees and GHS 7.2 million to GHS 21.6 million in annual sales.
In accordance with the Ghana Economic Transformation (GET) Project, the GEA has so far successfully carried out three interventions, including this current SME High Growth Programme and phases 1 and 2 of the COVID-19 Response Grant Programme.
The program will enable these businesses to become not only more competitive and export-oriented, but also to create new jobs, according to Nana Ama Dokua Asiamah Adjei, Deputy Minister of Trade & Industry, who also encouraged all qualified SMEs to take advantage of this initiative in order to build and scale their businesses.
All qualified applicants can apply to by completing a registration form via the GEA website: https://gea/gov.gh/getp
