Accra, April 29, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor on Friday called on the Ghanaian Business Community to take advantage of the policies initiated by the Government to improve on their businesses. He said in line with the Government's commitment to the development of the Private Sector to be the main engine for economic growth it had prioritised the development of the Sector.

"The Government has initiated various policies to strengthen and stabilize the macro-economy, to create an investor-friendly environment and also to support indigenous Ghanaian businesses. It now behoves the business community to respond to these initiatives to build their businesses, "he said.

President Kufuor made the call when launching the Microsoft- Navision 4.0 being established in Ghana by SOFTtribe and Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) in Accra.

SOFT, which began business in 1991 had become the leading software solutions provider in Ghana and the Microsoft-Navision 4.0 is an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution.

It would provide financial management that includes general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable as well as project and human resource management.

Other activities are supply chain management that would include integrated functionality that spans the processes of inventory and stock control, order and purchase processing, supply chain management, e-commerce and manufacturing.

It would undertake analytic processes associated with budgeting and forecasting, business analytics, key performance indicators and financial reporting.

President Kufuor said establishment of the Microsoft-Navision 4.0 coupled with the achievements of SOFTtribe had confirmed the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government's conviction that Ghana had the talents and the capacity to move forward.

He said the partnership between SOFTtribe and Microsoft was very important to the nation because the development of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Intellectual Property Ownership were priority areas for the Government.

"ICT is viewed as the fastest way of opening up the nation for economic development. It is also an important source of employment generation and wealth creation," he said.

President Kufuor said software development was a virgin market in Africa with a vast potential for growth and Ghana ought to capture a sizeable portion of the market.

"Its partnership with Microsoft immediately opens avenues for the export of Ghanaian owned ICT products and Intellectual Property worldwide," he said.

Mr Andreas U. Pederson, MBS Channel Manager for Microsoft Africa, said Microsoft had so far invested about 2.5 billion dollars in MBS worldwide.

Mr Joe Jackson, Chief Executive Officer of SOFTtribe, said the company had adequate resources to replicate their software in Africa.