A Ghanaian-owned garment manufacturing company was adjudged the best Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMSE) organisation in Africa in the 2020 Africa Kaizen Awards held in South Africa.

Mckenzie Ghana Limited, a Sunyani-based company, was presented with a citation endorsed by Dr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, Chair of the Executive Committee of the Africa Kaizen Awards 2020, and Chief Executive Officer, AUDA-NEPAD.

The annual Awards, being organised by the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), seek to acknowledge and appreciate the significant contributions of the private sector to the development of Africa's economy.

Nana Adwoa Owusu-Acheaw, the Programmes Officer, private sector engagement at JICA, presented the citation to Mr Michael Asare Yeboah, the Managing Director of McKenzie GH at a short ceremony in Sunyani and commended the company for its outstanding performance.

She said JICA was working on funding support for deserving SMEs in the country to enable them to expand their businesses and improve on productivity.

On his part, Mr Asare expressed appreciation to AUDA-NEPAD and JICA for the honour and expressed the hope that incentives would be made available to support SMEs.

He cited a lack of funding and equipment as major challenges impeding the growth and development of SMEs in the country and appealed to the government and development partners to help address such problems to boost the sector.

Established in 1995, Mr Asare said McKenzie GH had 65 employees and offered employable skills training to young people.

The company had trained more than 300 people in sewing and garment manufacturing and received several awards, including the COVID-19 Heroes of Distinction Awards from the West Africa International Press.