As part of the initiative, 30 leaders of enterprises are attending a one-week training of trainers' workshop to train 2,000 others in the SME sector.

The initiative is a partnership between the Ministry of Business Development and the Institute for the Creation and Development Enterprise (INCYDE), a Spanish business consultancy organisation.

The participants will be trained mainly in digital marketing, accessing financing, business development skills, among other skills.

The training workshop follows a memorandum of understanding signed between the Ministry of Business Development and the INCYDE in September 2018, to build the capacity of players in the SME sector in line with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's vision to move Ghana beyond aid.

Good move

The Chief Director of the Ministry of Business Development, Alhaji Hafiz Adam, who opened the training session on behalf of the sector minister, Dr Mohammed Ibrahim Awal, also read his speech.

Dr Awal said the programme was tailored to addressing key challenges that players in the SME sector faced.

"As you all know already, our young entrepreneurs are challenged in areas such as independent skills, poor entrepreneurial orientation, a lack of access to finance and limited training.

These problems must be addressed if we are to achieve the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda and this programme will certainly equip our entrepreneurs to compete in the global market," he said.

He said the Business Development Ministry was, through the National Entrepreneurial Innovative Plan (NEIP), carrying out a number of programmes to boost the SME sector.

Other initiatives

Dr Awal said, for instance, that through the presidential pitch,1,350 entrepreneurs were supported with funding, ranging from GH¢10,000 to GH¢100,000, while about 20,000 other entrepreneurs were trained across the country in 2018.

He said the ministry was also committed to championing the students entrepreneurship innovative programme that was launched this year, to help send entrepreneurship education to students at an earlier stage.

He stressed further that the women entrepreneurs with disability initiative, that was launched by President Akufo-Addo this year, would be sustained to help reduce poverty and bridge the inequality gap.

Trainees urged

Dr Awal urged the 30 leaders of SMEs who were going through the training programme to be diligent and learn best international practices to impart valuable knowledge on other entrepreneurs.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NEIP, Mr John Kumah, said the entity would continue to collaborate with the business development ministry and other stakeholders to boost local businesses.

He said the skills transfer of Spanish business expertise to Ghana would help to build the SME sector.

“We are very focused on training these owners of local businesses so that they will get international exposure and be able to create more job opportunities for others.

Last year, we trained 7,000 people and this year if 10,000 are also trained, we will be making a head way to achieving the president’s vision of making Ghana an industrialised country,” he said.

Technology is key

The consultant and facilitator of the workshop, Mr Sergio Alvarez Rodroguez, said the training programme would focus more on how to take advantage of digital marketing opportunities to grow SMEs in the country.

He observed that in an era of globalisation, it was important for businesses to leverage on technology to make their products compete favourably in the international market.

Mr Rodrguez added that the participants would be exposed to various ways of raising capital and financing sources to grow their businesses.