‘Support SMEs’ - Minister urges

Mr. Kweku Ricketts-Hagan, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, has reiterated the need for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to commit more resources to the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as mandated by law.

This will eventually profit the MMDAs through increased taxes, property rates and levies, as well as enhance the general well-being of the people within their jurisdictions, he said.

“I am aware that the complaint of many District Assemblies is their inability to mobilise internally generated revenue. But how do you increase revenue generation when there are no profitable local industries in your area? Let us therefore provide support through Rural Enterprises Programmes (REP) to develop micro and small businesses as an investment toward increased revenue generation,” he advised.

The constitution charges the MMDAs to promote and support economic productive activities of individuals or groups of persons. The Local Government Act mandates the Assemblies to do so by removing obstacles to the growth of SMEs and tasks them with the responsibility of entrepreneurial human capacities development to establish small businesses.

Mr. Ricketts-Hagan was addressing a training workshop in Sunyani for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) and other stakeholders of all the 161 districts participating in the Rural Enterprises Programme (REP).

The workshop was to highlight the role of the Assemblies in implementation of the Programme to help increase the number of micro and small enterprises in the districts and ensure they thrive and create more employment opportunities.

The Deputy Trade Minister entreated MMDCEs to ensure that resources provided by REP are put into effective use to the benefit of the rural poor, adding: “District Assemblies which have already taken the Programme implementation serious are reaping the benefits.

“I encourage you to critically examine economic potentials in your districts especially for the youth; be it agro-processing, fish farming, bee-keeping or animal husbandry, REP is there to support the youth establish and grow their businesses as a viable option to wage employment,” he stressed.

Mr. Kwasi Atta-Antwi, National Director-REP, for his part said: “Experience has shown Programme implementation and rural enterprises development have been very successful in districts which provide effective leadership and support -- evidenced in the number of businesses established and jobs created among others."

He therefore urged MMDCEs to show commitment and uphold their responsibilities toward developing micro and small enterprises in their districts.

The Rural Enterprises Programme (REP) is an integral part of Ghana Government’s efforts to reduce poverty and improve livelihoods of rural folks by developing the full potential of rural micro and small enterprises. Financiers of the Programme are Ghana government, International Fund for Agriculture Development, and the African Development Bank.

The first and second phases have successfully been implemented since introduction in 1995. Following the fruitful implementation of the district-based model in 66 districts, managers have now scaled-up the support to 161 participating districts for the third phase, spanning from 2012-2020.

The three models of the Programme are: access to business development services; technology transfer through technical skills training and demonstrations of equipment and; access of micro and small enterprises to rural finance.