Takoradi, Nov. 29, GNA - Mr Philip Kwesi Nkrumah, Shama Ahanta East Metropolitan Chief Executive has attributed the slow pace of economic development of the Western Region to inadequate entrepreneurial skills to transform the abundant resources of the region into wealth.

He has therefore advised entrepreneurs to avail themselves of opportunities to improve their business management skills to champion the cause of production and employment generation to enhance wealth creation and poverty reduction.

Mr Nkrumah made the remarks when he opened a two-day training workshop for selected small-scale business operators in the Shama Ahanta East Metropolitan Area in Takoradi on Wednesday.

It was organised by the Business Department of the University of Cape Coast in collaboration with the National Board for Small Scale Industries and Unilever.

Participants would be assisted to develop the capacity to manage time and communicative skills, understand and appreciate the importance of record keeping and also learn skills and techniques for costing and pricing of products among other topic.

Mr Nkrumah said the government recognises the important role of the private sector in employment generation and wealth creation and would continue to give the sector all the needed support to enable it to continue its role as partner in development.

Quoting the 2000 Population and Housing Census report, Mr Nkrumah said the private sector alone employs more than 91 per cent of the country's working population, and that most of them are found in the informal sector.

He stressed the need for the private sector to develop the requisite skills that could make it to withstand competitions. The Metropolitan Chief Executive said the Assembly had spent one billion cedis to support small-scale business operators in the area and pledged more support for the sector, which he described as the Assemblies development partner.

Madam Vicky Wireko-Andoh, Corporate Relations Manager of Unilever, praised hardworking entrepreneurs through whose activities more jobs were being created to complement the efforts of the government. She said the workshop was the third in the series that had been organised with the support of Unilever for a total of 140 small-scale business entrepreneurs in the Western region.

Madam Wireko-Andoh said assessments conducted indicated that the workshops have immensely benefited the participants. She advised the participants to practice fully all the skills that would be imparted to them during the workshop.