The beneficiary MSMEs are part of businesses which have signed up for financial and technical assistance in the Youth in MSME, Women MSME and SME High Growth programmes.

The businesses operate on var­ious sectors including agriculture and agro-processing, textiles and garments, transport and logistics, food and beverages and tourism and hospitality.

At a grant agreement signing ceremony in Accra yesterday, Min­ister of Trade and Industry, K.T. Hammond, said, the programmes form part of the government’s effort at strengthening local busi­nesses and positioning them as vi­able entities for economic growth and transformation.

He said the programmes sought to improve the competitiveness of local MSMEs and position them to benefit from existing and future global or regional trade opportu­nities, such as the African Conti­nental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) initiative.

The Women MSME Pro­gramme, Mr Hammond noted, would contribute to bridging gender disparities as far as access to capital was concerned and also support entrepreneurship educa­tion and training.

He stated that, the Youth in MSME programme was designed to enable young entrepreneurs harness the power of e-commerce, social media, and digital marketing to promote their products, and expand their businesses and ex­plore new avenues for growth and revenue generation.

The Minister said the SME High Growth programme would further support efforts to promote growth and job creation through industri­alization and enhance exports for improved revenue generation.

Mr Hammond advised the ben­eficiaries to strategically invest the grant to improve their businesses, adding that the “the Ministry and GEA will undertake regular mon­itoring and supervision to ensure the fund is properly used.”

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GEA, Kosi Yan­key-Aryeh, said more than GH¢65 million had been disbursed to almost 800 SMEs from September 2021 to January 2023, through the various programmes being imple­mented by the GEA.

She noted that about 40 per cent of the funding had been invested into women-owned enterprises adding that 311 enterprises had been provided with grant within the same period.

“A survey conducted by KPMG in December 2022 revealed that 3,195 jobs have been sustained and created by 311 firms supported with grants support from GEA.

This is good news because not only were the businesses able to make profit and keep their staff, but they were also able to expand and add on new staff,” she added.

The SME High-Growth pro­gramme, she said, was to increase the operational efficiency of busi­nesses, increase their competitive­ness, and scale up their operations to create more jobs.

In this regard, Mrs Yan­key-Aryeh noted that, in addition to the grant, beneficiary businesses would be given technical assistance to improve their operational capa­bilities for enhanced revenue.