Accra, Dec. 10, GNA - Mr Daniel Duku, Chief Executive Officer of Venture Capital Trust Fund has given the assurance that his outfit would open up to support the establishment and growth of businesses in Ghana and beyond in the coming years.

"Our track record of supporting giant business entities like Gold Venture, Abankese, Fidelity Bank and Bedrock is enough to demonstrate our readiness and seriousness towards the growth of business in our country," he stressed.

Mr Duku was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, at the sidelines of a recent Ghana-Czech Republic Trade and Investment Forum held in Prague, Czech Republic.

He said such the fund had built its capacity over the years to facilitate trade links with businesses in Ghana and beyond. The Venture Capital Trust Fund, which was established by the Act of Parliament (68) in 2004, is to among other issues provide funds to businesses for initial start up and future growth.

It was also meant to boost Public- Private Partnership to ensure that the private sector lived up to its accolade of being the engine of growth. Mr Duku said the fund would from next year support more Small and medium scale enterprises.

He said his visit to the Ghana-Czech Trade and Investment Forum had offered him the opportunity to partner Czech businesses to invest in Ghana. He said the fund which started with the seed amount of $22.4 million in 2006, had attracted $77.6 million as at mid-2010 and expressed the hope to push the amount up before the end of the year.

The Chief Executive Officer promised to raise the levels of the fund through funding of public- private and other small and medium enterprises and called on potential beneficiary companies to critically study the terms and conditions of the business entity before applying for assistance.