Government has launched a 100 million cedi (GH¢100 million) grant funding initiative for training and capacity upgrading of high-growth Micro, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises, MSMEs, owned by women and young persons.
The initiatives, which are being supported and funded by the World Bank and the government under the Ghana Economic Transformation Project, GETP, will allocate 40 million cedis as grants for women in MSMES and 60 million cedis to young persons between the ages of 18 and 35.
Launching it, the Minister of Trade and Industry, K.T. Hammond said the programmes aligned with government’s goal of providing training, capacity upgrades, and funding to help businesses to scale up and transition MSMEs into the next stage of growth, thereby improving their ability to increase sales and commence exports.
He said the initiatives present the Management and Board of the Ghana Enterprises Agency, GEA, another opportunity to empower Ghanaian Women in the MSME Sector and Young Ghanaian Entrepreneurs as they strive to grow sustainably and formalize their businesses.
Mr Hammond said the government would step up efforts with multilateral, regional and bilateral partners to open access to new markets for the country’s products and services.
He said the Ministry would continue to build and strengthen the policy and institutional mechanisms that enable implementing agencies to be responsive to the needs of the private sector, especially SMEs in harnessing opportunities, including market access opportunities such as the African Continental Free Trade Area.
The GEA has successfully disbursed GHS66 million to over 800 SMEs between September 2021 to December 2022 in two phases as part of the COVID-19 Response Grant Programme and a complementary programme designed for SME High Growth.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Enterprises Agency, Mrs Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, said the Youth in MSME Programme seeks to provide capacity support and financial assistance in the form of grants to businesses owned by young persons 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.
She said the nationwide Youth in MSME and the Women MSME Programmes would both consist of generic training, capacity upgrading and grant support components.
SOURCE: GNA