He explained that the move is expected to help direct the focus of the NBSSI to provide more support to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country.

Mr Ahomka-Lindsay, who disclosed this at the 2017 Small and Medium Enterprises Ghana Awards (SMEGA) last week in Accra, indicated that although the government directed resources to support small businesses, a lot had not been achieved in that area.

“As we look at stimulating our small businesses, there is an institution which is mandated by the government to support SMEs, but over the years this had not been done successfully, hence the need for the restructuring of that entity to deliver on its core mandate,” he said.

The NBSSI

The NBSSI is the apex governmental body for the promotion and development of the micro and small enterprises (MSE) sector in the country.

It was established in 1985 by an Act of the Parliament of the Third Republic of Ghana (Act 434 of 1981) because the government viewed the sector as having the potential to contribute substantially to the reduction of the high unemployment rate and to the growth of the economy of Ghana.

NBSSI is an agency under the Ministry of Trade and Industry with its head office in Accra, with secretariats in all the regional capitals and Business Advisory Centres (BACs) in 170 district capitals.

The main focus of NBSSI is to ensure that MSEs have access to high quality, affordable and accessible business support services (BDS) through the provision of client-focused quality programmes, supported by superior customer service and building strong relationships with stakeholders.

Building strong SMEs

Mr Ahomka-Lindsay said strong small and medium enterprises sector was important for the growth of every economy, advanced or developing.

He indicated that in Ghana, more than 84 per cent of all registered businesses fell in that category with a similar proportion of the industrial sector making it into the category.

“The sector is essential for several reasons, including creating jobs, supporting the agricultural and primary commodities sub-sectors and also generating foreign exchange for the economy when a good chunk of the SMEs build up competitiveness and capacity to play in the global or regional marketplace.”

He emphasised that the government was taking steps to restructure the NBSSI in a move to help develop a strong SMEs sector to support the economic development process in the country.
Support SMEs

The Executive Director of European Business Organisations in Ghana (EBO-Ghana), Mr Nico Van Staalduinen, called on the government to give valuable support to Ghanaian entrepreneurs to enable them to grow their businesses.

He said doing business in the country was not easy and, therefore, called on the government to put in place measures to ease the challenges of doing business in the country.

He said the economy could attract high value investments if it was able to empower its local entrepreneurs to match the capacities of potential external investors.

According to him, the country can only see a significant growth in the economy if the small and medium enterprise sector is given the needed support to grow.

He advised Ghanaians, especially entrepreneurs, to keep themselves from ventures which were no longer relevant in a changing world.

Rather, he asked them to cultivate the habit of developing a competitive edge over their peers in order to penetrate the international market.