The US$5million Enterprise Development Centre (EDC), built in the Western Region to support SMEs entering the oil and gas sector, is billed for opening in May.

The Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) is one of Government’s initiatives to provide support to Ghanaian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) so they can position themselves to take advantage of business opportunities in the oil and gas sector. This involves providing a range of services such as business training, capacity building programmes, advisory services, access to markets and information. The EDC will also act as a focal point for coordination between SMEs and the oil and gas companies, their contractors and sub-contractors.

To ensure its success, the Jubilee Partners -- who have agreed to fund the establishment and running of the Centre for a period of five years and in collaboration with Ministry of Energy and Petroleum (MoEP) -- have appointed Enablis Entrepreneurial Network Ghana (Enbalis) to establish and run the EDC in Takoradi. Enablis will establish and run the EDC: the EDC plays a pivotal role in identifying opportunities and facilitating the development of SMEs for their participation in the oil and gas sector.

At the launching ceremony, the Country Director of Enablis Shika Acolatse, said this is a great opportunity for Ghanaian SMEs in the Oil and Gas Industry and encouraged them to seize this opportunity to participate fully in it.

According to the Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, the centre represents a significant milestone toward achieving the country’s local-content objectives. With the centre providing business development and incubation services to SMEs, oil companies will no more have the excuse of saying that they want to give jobs to Ghanaians but the standards are so low, the Minister said in Accra at a conference on establishment of the centre.

“This centre will give Ghanaians the opportunity to ensure that those high standards are met,” Mr. Buah said. “There are so many opportunities in the industry. What Ghanaians need to do is make sure we are preparing to take advantage of them,” he added.

The EDC is an initiative of Government but is being funded by the Jubilee partners for an initial period of five years, after which it is expected to be “self-sustaining”. The Minister thanked the partners for the support, and assured that Government will ensure the centre is sustained after the five-year period. The centre will provide a range of services to SMEs at a fee --including business training, advisory services and access to markets and information.

It will also act as a focal point for coordination between SMEs and the oil and gas companies, their contractors and sub-contractors. The training modules will include general business skills development as well as skills development in oil and gas-specific areas like contracting processes, terms and conditions, and the fundamentals of offshore environment, health and safety policy.

The centre is expected to play a key role in identifying opportunities and facilitating the development of SMEs to take advantage of those opportunities. Afuah Amissah, Local Content Project Coordinator at the Ministry of Energy, told the B&FT that financing is, admittedly, “a big challenge” for SMEs; and for that reason, some of the financial institutions will be going to the centre to coach local suppliers about how to secure credit facilities.

“The good thing is that, right now, most of the banks have oil and gas desks so that they understand more what the local suppliers need and how they will be able to address those needs,” she added.