The workshop, which is being organized throughout the country, is aimed at promoting SMEs through industrialization and making land available for investment purposes. It is also aimed at sensitizing MMDAs and traditional authorities on the need to make land available for investment purposes, ascertain challenges facing SMEs and undertake on-the-spot screening of companies for registration and facilitating the development of new projects.

The workshop was held under the theme: “Industrialization through Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion and making land available for investment purposes.” Mr Nii Djanmah Vanderpuye, the Deputy Greater Accra Regional Minister, said the GIPC Act, Act 865 of 2013 mandates them to provide for the creation of an attractive framework and a transparent, predictable and facilitating environment for investment the country.

He said this year’s meeting is very important for the MMDAs and entrepreneurs in the region to highlight their potentials. Mr Vanderpuye said the workshop will provide the opportunity for businessmen/women and MMDAs to receive a brief from the officials of the GIPC on the activities of the Centre, provide the platform to sensitize the MMDAs and traditional authorities on the need to make land available for investment purposes and help bring local investors to register with the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre.

“It is also meant to serve as a forum to deliberate on how best entrepreneurs, as well as the MMDAs of this region can attract a lot more investment into their operations and enable us to identify investment opportunities in the region for promotion.

He said the workshop is designed to encourage and facilitate the preparation of indigenous Ghanaian companies to be able to take advantage of the provisions in the Local Content Law, which requires that the foreign investor cedes a minimum of 10 per cent share to the local partnering company.

Mr Vanderpuye said Government believes strongly that the unit for development is the MMDAs, the Greater Accra is also one of the most vibrant regions in the country and has established itself as an investment hub and boasts of not only a thriving and conducive business environment but also the needed human capital combined with the availability of a vibrant market force.

He said one of the major challenges affecting the Region’s absorptive capacity for the smooth implementation of the investment projects is access to land for investment purposes and available information indicates that GIPC manages a database which contains information on lands that are available for lease and makes the information available to investors upon request.

Mr David Laryea said the MIS Monitoring and Tracking section 27 of Act 865 reserves some activities for Ghanaians and this includes the sale of goods and provisions of services in a market, petty trading or hawking, operation of taxi or car hire services in an enterprise and the printing of recharge cards.

Other activities, he said, include the production of exercise books and other basic stationery, retail of finished pharmaceutical products, and various pool betting businesses and lotteries.

He said there were many benefits of investment and initiatives including job creation, skill development, technology transfer, partnership, exports and local development can be accrued from such efforts.

The initiatives also include investment advisory services, joint venture search, identification of specific projects for investment promotion, granting of investment incentives, registering, monitoring and keeping records of enterprises in the country and also registering and keeping records of all technology transfer agreements.