The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has formally launched the Small Medium Enterprises (SME) Growth and Opportunity (GO) Programme, aimed at disbursing GH¢8.2 billion to support Ghanaian businesses.
According to the President, the mission is to empower our small and medium enterprises to thrive and drive our nation’s economic prosperity.
The programme was launched on Tuesday, July 16, 2024 at the SME Growth and Opportunity Summit held at the Kempinski Gold Coast Hotel, Accra, on the theme: “Breaking barriers to SME growth.”
The amount, GH¢8.2 billion, was sourced by the Ministry of Finance from both the public and private sectors.
The money will be disbursed to “eligible SMEs under the SME GO programme that was launched at the summit yesterday.
SOURCES
Ghana Exim Bank, supported with GH¢700 million will offer highly subsidised financial support for both capital and operating expenditures.
President Akufo-Addo said a dedicated window for the 1-District-1-Factory initiative will also be set up to ensure optimal synergies with this structural project.
The Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA) has allocated GH¢230 million and will target high-growth SMEs employing 100 or more people, providing small-scale grants and loans of up to two years at highly subsidised rates.
The Development Bank Ghana (DBG) will utilise GH¢1.4 billion and provide loans with tailored repayment conditions through financial institutions.
The President indicated that these loans, with terms of up to five years, will support SMEs with robust growth prospects.
APPLICATION
President Akufo-Addo announced that an online application portal has been developed by the technology partners, who will ensure that the screening process is fair and transparent and prioritizes SMEs that can demonstrate robust growth prospects.
He added that, after the event yesterday, all interested SMEs could visit the GEA and Ghana Exim Bank websites and be directed to the portal to apply for programme support.
HIGHLIGHT
President Akufo-Addo indicated that, as part of the GO Programme, for instance, Ghana Exim Bank would set up a novel food innovation hub within the next three months to support all MSMEs in the food industry with testing and scaling up production in the Standard Food Processing Pilot Plant, to be located on the University of Ghana campus.
It will incorporate installed processing equipment, warehousing space, a testing lab, and a suite for SMEs to interact directly with relevant regulatory authorities.
The plant will provide essentially vital resource for food companies that are just starting out and do not have sufficient funding to purchase equipment or for SMEs that need to evaluate new processes and product lines.
The capacity-building initiative will ensure that any SME who may not have sufficient capital and technical capacity could pay a one-time fee at the pilot plant to access modern and sophisticated processing equipment that allows the SME to produce at scale while being supported by food scientists and other specialists.
Also, GEA and DBG will support programme beneficiaries with targeted training encompassing financial management, regulatory compliance, digitalization in business, business plan development and many other topics.
An online application portal has been developed by our technology partners, who will ensure that the screening process is fair and transparent and prioritizes SMEs that can demonstrate robust growth prospects.
Indeed, after today’s event, all interested SMEs can visit the GEA and Ghana Ex-Im websites and be directed to the portal to apply for programme support.
BELIEF
The President said he believed that with this programme, Ghana could lay the foundations for a stronger economy underpinned by strong Ghanaian enterprises, creating jobs and delivering opportunities for people.
“Ultimately, Ghana views the growth and opportunity programme as an important step towards building a future economy shaped by enterprise and innovation, where our people can witness their ideas become reality and our entrepreneurs build businesses that will eventually create jobs in our communities,” he added.
The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison, in his remarks touched on how to overcome the challenges of SME financing with regulations, while the Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance welcomed participants to the summit.
The Minister for Trade and Industry, Kobina Tahir Hammond, said in his address that Ghana, through strategic initiatives and programmes, aims to enhance the performance and contributions of the SME sector while forging a path towards a future defined by growth and opportunity.
The President and the Minister for Trade, in their separate addresses, commended the Chief Executive Officer of the GEA for her efforts for the SMEs in Ghana.
On his part, the Minister for Finance, Dr. Mohammed Amin Andam, said stakeholders, including the Association of Ghana Industries and civil society, have been consulted to design selection criteria and financing instruments tailored to meet the needs of high-growth potential SMEs.
MONITORING
As part of the detailed monitoring framework deployed by all partnering institutions, agreements will be signed between the SME and the disbursing entity to ensure an adequate use of the funding.
Every three months, monitoring exercises will be carried out with in-person checks on beneficiaries.
Some beneficiary SMEs were presented with various sum of money at the summit yesterday.
