The National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the SNV Netherlands Development Organisation to support and create Green Businesses in Ghana.

The agreement under the SNV Ghana’s “Boosting Green Employment and Enterprise Opportunities in Ghana (GrEEn)” project seeks to support the transition of local economies to green and climate-resilient ones.

It also aims to improve employability and entrepreneurship capabilities of youth, women and voluntary returning migrants, as well as support, incubating and accelerating MSMEs so they offer decent and sustainable jobs to youth, women and voluntary returning migrants.

Mrs Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, Executive Director NBSSI and Mr Anjo van Toorn, the Country Director SNV signed the deal on behalf of their respective organisations.

Commenting on the deal, Mrs Yankey-Ayeh said as Ghana sought to restructure the economy during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasis needed to be placed on exploring new and under-explored areas of wealth and job creation.
“This calls for special attention on the agriculture sector, renewable energy, water, Sanitation and Hygiene, and that is exactly what this MoU aims to do,” she said.

She said Ghanaian MSMEs had focused on the conventional areas of trade and commerce and had done little about exploring the business opportunities in renewable energy, water, Sanitation and Hygiene.

“These areas have fantastic opportunities that can be leveraged to create sustainable jobs for the teeming unemployed youth. It is for this reason that this MoU brings a good sense of excitement and prospect for the future,” Mrs Yankey-Ayeh said.

She said the initiative was in line with the government agenda to equip the teeming unemployed youth with entrepreneurial skills and provide sustainable jobs.

The GrEEn Project will be implemented for four years in selected Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) across two Regions of Ghana, namely, the Ashanti and Western Regions.

“With a clear objective of creating economic and employment opportunities for youth, women and returning migrants by promoting and supporting sustainable green businesses, I am convinced that it will challenge the beneficiaries to explore a new avenue for wealth creation,” she said.

Mrs Yankey-Ayeh assured that the NBSSI would provide the needed support and collaboration at both the national and local levels to ensure that the partnership achieved the expected objectives.

On his part, Mr Toorn said the project’s target was to achieve the training of at least 5,000 people, 3,500 creating self-employment opportunities, 100 MSMEs incubated and accelerated and 1,500 decent and sustainable jobs.

He said in the cooperation NBSSI and SNV would want to build coordination and synergies at national, regional and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assembly levels.

Mr Toorn said with the signing of the MoU, NBSSI would participate in the GrEEn project steering Committee at the national level.

There will also be the creation of synergies between GrEEn interventions and NBSSI departments and centres at national, regional and MMDA-level to support MSMEs and support the implementation of the government MSME policy and Covid19 recovery plan.

Mr Toorn said the project would also support the delivery of Business Advisory services to MSMEs in the Western and Ashanti region with a focus on green and circular economy and support awareness-raising and information provision for youth and women interested in green businesses.

“GrEEn is about youth employment, migration, green businesses, climate -no small issues. That's why we need partnerships and pool resources. Only together we can effectively address these issues,” Mr Toorn added.