Tuesday 26 November 2013

Ghana: SMEs Challenged to Embrace ICTs

Accra — SMALL and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) operating in Ghana and other parts of Africa have been urged to make use of modern technology to access global markets.
Ghana's chief director in the ministry of trade and industry, Nii Ansah-Adjei told CAJ News in Tema on the sidelines of a month-training workshop for women entrepreneurs that only through technology could enable Africa's SMEs to survive competition with their international counterparts.
He explained that one effective way for the local industry, especially small-scale businesses, to expand their goods and services and increase their cash flows was to target the foreign market.
He said since the private sector of every country thrived on the activities of small-scale businesses, Ansah-Adjei said there was need for African industries to devise technological ways to attract bigger markets.
“As an entrepreneur, your major goal is to go beyond your country and think of how best you can access the global markets, since it is the only platform to reap the full benefits of your businesses,” he said.

Ansah-Adjei said although the government was putting in place measures to support local industries in small-scale businesses, he said it it was up to entrepreneurs to discover ways to market their own goods.
Addressing the women entrepreneurs earlier, the Executive Director of National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI), Lukman Abdul-Rahim, indicated that the training workshop was to enhance the capacity of female entrepreneurs.
Abdul-Rahim said the NBSSI was in consultation with financial institutions towards securing support to boost the activities of the local industry.
“We have also been able to secure GH¢3 million from the Export Development and Agricultural Investment Fund (EDAIF) to support small-scale businesses,” Abdul-Rahim noted.
The Director of Women Entrepreneurship Development Department of NBSSI, Habiba Sumani, commended the participants for their commitment to the workshop and urged them to use the knowledge they had acquired to grow their businesses.
The one-month training workshop was organised by the NBSSI in partnership with the Tema Business Advisory Centre.
It was aimed at equipping women entrepreneurs in Tema with effective financial management and the use of ICT to boost their businesses.
A total of 35 participants in the workshop were awarded certificates, qualifying them to access loans from NBSSI.

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