Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, has called on dying industry players to merge with their counterparts to stay in business and also create more job opportunities for Ghanaians.

Speaking at the official launch of the AirtelTigo business at the Mariott Hotel in Accra, he said, “It is very sad that when many companies do not do well knowing perfectly that the only solution they have is to merge with a stronger partner or make themselves available to be acquired, they will rather see their companies die. We are asking the industry players to see this coming together of AirtelTigo as a solution to many of the collapsing companies Ghana”.

Mr Ahenkorah added that running a telecommunications network business is pretty difficult and industry players should not sit down for their businesses to collapse.

He noted that the Ministry of Trade will be embarking on a strategic industrialization programme to support Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country to strengthen the industry and make it thrive more.

The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry revealed that SMEs are the backbone of the trade industry since it boosts the Ghanaian economy.

He said, “The SMEs have supported our economy up and today and we have to do everything possible to make them feel important so they can keep supporting the economy. Adding that, it is the reason for coming up with legislation acts to have an enterprise authority and the National Board for Small Scale industries into a regulatory body that will assist SMEs to do better”.