Gov’t launches GH¢90m seed fund to support Women and youth in MSME

By Eugene Davis

knowledge of how to utilize technology to augment their operational capacity.

Business Plan Development

Training [ this area of training will equip the SMEs with the necessary skills to enable them to understand key business functions and the basic approaches to analysing business activities and designing a practical business plan.

With GH¢90m in funding, the Women owned Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSME) and Youth MSME programmes will scale up businesses of women and the youth as well as enhance their competitiveness through technical training and nancial support.

Launching the event in Accra last Friday, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Kobina Tahir Hammond stated that the launch demonstrates the commitment of the President [Nana Akufo-Addo] to supporting SME development in the country.

According to him, it is in line with the Ministry’s e orts at achieving ‘Development of SMEs’ which is part of the 10 points pillars of the Government Industrial Transformation Agenda – which seeks to give small and medium scale businesses the needed boost to survive to impart government’s objective of job creation.

He also indicated that government would step up e orts with multilateral, regional and bilateral partners to open access to new markets for our products and services.

John Kumah, a Deputy Minister of Finance said the initiatives are designed to provide targeted support for women and young entrepreneurs who are starting or growing their businesses.

“Through this programme we are able to champion a transformative change that we seek to achieve by supporting and empowering aspiring entre- preneurs -we are investing in the future of our nation.”

CEO of the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), Kosi Yankey-Ayeh on her part said the Grant Programme’s support from the GEA is expected to culminate into job creation and job sustainability.

Further, MSMEs will transition into the next stage of growth, thereby improving their ability to increase sales and exports.

The W-MSME and Youth in MSMEs Programme will entail technical assistance for up to 2,000 MSMEs on business management capabilities, productivity-enhancing improvements, and a replication of the soft skills acquired leading to a generally improved business operating culture among Ghanaian MSMEs thereby enhancing competition and growth.

The Youth in MSME Programme seeks to provide capacity support and nancial assistance in the form of grants to businesses owned by young persons between the ages of 18- 35. The government recognizes the challenges faced by these categories of businesses and seeks to encourage more start-ups by young people.

The Women MSME Programme will inject more resources into women-owned businesses or Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)owned by women with the aim of improving their capacity for growth and job creation.

Programme Fund Size

GH¢30m has been earmarked for the W-MSME Programme and GH¢60m for the Youth in MSME Programme targeting female owned and youth owned rms respectively for generic training, capacity upgrades/mentoring and grants

The W-MSME and the Youth in MSME Programmes will provide a 4-day generic training to about 2,000 MSMEs shortlisted from a pool of applicants.

The training will mirror those under the High Growth Programme and focus on: Training in Business and Financial Management [ training in budgeting and available tools for budgetary control and monitoring, record keeping, preparing, reading and comprehension of basic nancial statement, working capital management and cycle, receivable and payables management, inventory management and basic business plan development.]

Training in Taxation and Regulatory Compliance [ The goal of this knowledge area is to equip SMEs with practical knowledge of the legal environment in which they operate. It will also equip the SMEs with working knowledge of the Ghanaian system of taxation and the basic principles of taxation for individuals and SMEs.

Training in Digitisation in Business [ It is imperative that SMEs get a working technology of how technology and digital marketing contribute to business performance. This will include modules that will equip the SMEs with the basic

Training in Marketing [The goal of this knowledge area is to ensure the SMEs understand and apply practical knowledge of the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of their goods or services that satisfy individual and organizational needs.

Others are: Group Consulting Sessions, Capacity Upgrade Programme, Capacity Upgrade Programme through individual consulting, Funding(grants)

Who can apply

Small and Medium Enterprises owned by young persons (between the ages of 18 -35), must have majority Ghanaian shareholding (51percent or more) in the business, must be registered under Ghanaian law as a limited liability company, a partnership or sole trader, applicants are encouraged to read the detailed eligibility criteria to determine eligibility before applying, small enterprises should demonstrate an employee size of 6- 30 and/or annual sales between G¢H 180,000 -GH¢7.2m.

Medium enterprises should demonstrate an employee size of 31 – 100 and annual sales between GH¢7.2m – GH¢21.6m. Eligible sectors include agribusiness/agro-processing, construction, education, food and beverage, healthcare or pharmaceutical industries, ICT, manufacturing, textile and garment, tourism and hospitality, trade/commerce of locally produced goods, transport and logistics.