Govt restructures NBSSI to empower SMEs

THE government is reorganising the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBBSI) to enable it provide adequate support to female entrepreneurs and other Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country.

The Director of  SME and Technology at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Mr Johnson Adasi, disclosed this at the end of a four-day workshop on sound financial management practices for female entrepreneurs in Accra. He said the government was reorganising the board as part of policy initiatives aimed at assisting small scale businesses nation-wide.

The ministry, he said, would also liaise with micro-financial schemes and institutions to extend credit to women engaged in small-scale businesses and petty trading, especially in rural and deprived areas.

Mr Adasi also added that the ministry would “train women in food-processing techniques in the non-traditional sector and supporting economically active and potentially viable women’s group.”

Other initiatives he outlined included collaborating with IFAD, AfDB, JICA and other donors in building the capacity of women entrepreneurs as well as enhancing the activities of GRATIS and the Rural Enterprises Programme to train women in the use of agricultural processing machines.

“In addition, specific support programmes also include measures related to facilitating access to finance, provision of incentives, promotion of partnerships, training, access to appropriate technology, access to market, access to information and advice, infrastructure and institutional strengthening of private sector associations,” he said.

Women, he explained, constituted almost 50 per cent of the world population and had been making substantial contribution to socio-economic development although their contribution largely remained unrecognised and unnoticed in most developing countries.

He said looking at the challenges confronting women entrepreneurs, there is the need to improve the status of women by empowering them economically.

The Director, Women Entrepreneurship Development Department of the (NBSSI), Madam Habiba Sumani, said small-scale enterprises face a lot of challenges including access to finance, illiteracy, lack of mentorship, time and competing demands on time.

She said in order to bridge these gaps, skills development would provide an important solution to empower women to improve upon their financial literacy, make meaningful improvements in their businesses and increase their social status and eventually help to reduce poverty among women.

The training programme, she said, would thus increase participant’s knowledge, skills and attitudes in financial management practices needed to improve upon their enterprises, adding that it would help participants appreciate micro-financing and credit administration procedures better.

“The workshop will equip participants with the requisite knowledge and skills to be able to measure and improve cash flow in their businesses, set up a simple profit and loss account for their businesses, have adequate understanding of the relationship between balance sheets and profit and loss account, how to compare balance sheets to assess business performance and have adequate understanding of what financial institutions expect from them in order to improve their access to credit,” she said.

She added, “I therefore urge participants to take advantage of this platform to network among yourselves and share experiences and ideas since you all come from different areas and sectors and belong to different Business Associations.”

The training programme was sponsored by the Ministry of Trade and Industry under the Industrial Sector Support Programme.

The NBSSI is the apex governmental body in Ghana under the Ministry of Trade and Industry, for the development and promotion of micro and small enterprises in Ghana and offers business development services like training, counseling and advisory services, provide support to business associations, foster networking of associations and facilitates access to finance in addition to the small loan scheme it operates.