GIZ Ghana through its Reform and Investment Partnership project, the Migration and Employment Promotion component and Financial System Development component has held a two-day forum on Access to Finance in Takoradi for Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs).

The forum is under the Programme for Sustainable Economic Development, and the Special Initiative for Training and Job creation (SI Jobs) programme targeted at MSMEs.

It provided relevant insights on how SMEs in Takoradi could effectively access finance for the growth of their enterprises and bridge the gap of understanding between financial institutions such as banks and insurance companies and business owners.

In a press brief, GIZ Ghana said the event was in collaboration with various innovation hubs, including Duapa Workspace, the Social Entrepreneurship Hub, ICODE and Sekondi Takoradi Chamber of Commerce.

It said the “Access to Finance” forum, which was first organised in the Ashanti and Bono regions last year, continually sought to provide business owners or entrepreneurs the opportunity to discuss and find solutions to challenges of accessing finance for their businesses.

The statement said as the forum consistently improved from region to region, this year’s forum in Takoradi, included a pitching competition, which saw several SMEs pitched their businesses for the chance to win various logistics like laptops and mobile phones, contributing towards improving the digitalisation of their businesses.

It said participants of the Forum also had the opportunity to register for a MoMo merchant sim with MTN, allowing them to transact business using mobile money.

“I am particularly grateful for the rich feedback and encouragement given by the judges during my pitch,” an entrepreneur, said.

Since 2020, the forum has reached over 200 business owners with pertinent information on accessing finance for their businesses and improve their ability to generate capital through various funding strategies.

The next destinations for the Forum are the Volta and Greater Accra Regions.

Financial institutions, including Access Bank, Fidelity Bank, Allianz insurance and Glico insurance were at the Takoradi Forum.