Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Ghana are being given newer opportunities to expand their operations under a United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and Ghana Enterprise Agency (GEA) joint project that is aimed at enhancing productivity and sustainability.
The UNIDO and GEA joint project lasting 36 months forms part of a Japanese Government grant of 3.9 million dollars under the kaizen initiative that targets primarily at sustainable agribusinesses.
The Kaizen initiative; coined from a Japanese word “kaizen” meaning improvement through making little changes emphasizes on leveraging efficiency and productivity, food safety and compliance among others through user-friendly digital tools such as the dashboard to enhance business operation particularly for those in agri-business.
Owners of MSMEs and inter-governmental agencies and stakeholders such as the Food and Drugs Authority, MoTI and the Department of Agriculture among others gathered for the proposal launch for Northern Ghana held in Tamale.
UNIDO’s Project Manager, Marin Mizuno who launched the call for proposal stated that current global challenges and uncertainties have made MSMEs the most vulnerable as such; galvanizing local resources to improve on enterprise performance was the surest thing to do now.
He said potential MSMEs have until April 30 of this year to apply for the Kaizen and Smart and Sustainable Agri-Business SSAB training which targets 600 enterprises to enhancing their productivity, sustainability and competitiveness.
Mr. Mizuno said the kaizen initiative and the SSAB are expected to boost sustainable agri-business development in the Ghana.
The Director in charge of MSMEs at the GEA, Mr. Isaac Nimako said seventy (70) percent of GDP is sourced from MSMEs yet, access to funding, low productivity, market access were still challenges.
According to him, MSMEs have a critical role to play in Ghana’s industrial transformation agenda and the government through the GEA is aiming at addressing some of the key challenges that confront the MSMEs.
The GEA, he stated was visible during the Covid-19 era by supporting MSMEs with credit and technical support.
For his part, National Project Co-ordinator, Kipo Dari, who took the MSMEs through presentation on the Kaizen initiative and the call for proposal, explained that the project is in response to the many challenges faced by MSMEs in their attempt to grow and develop, adding that the only way an enterprise can scale through is to leverage their internal resources and UNIDO and GEA have come up with such an innovation to help realize that dream.
UNIDO is a special UN arm working around the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9 which is – to build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.
Story By: Nelson Adanuti Nyadror |www.diamondfmonline.com |Ghana.
