Through its National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan Initiative (NEIP), Ghanaian government has funded 1,350 owners of Small and Medium Enterprises, with a total of $10million in seed capital.
Each SME among the 1,350 chosen have received around $2,000 as financial support. The disbursement is meant to aid the SMEs to set up their own business or revamp the existing ones to gain better traction.
According to Owusu Karikari, the Director of Business Support at NEIP, the support is a loan expected to be refunded with a 10 percent interest, repayable within three years to enable more SMEs to expand and create more jobs.
NEIP identified the lack of knowledge about product development, limited market, insufficient management skills, lack of funding and little or no technical support as few of the many challenges facing SMEs in the region. Karikari said.
See Also: Nissan Set to Establish Assembling Plant in Ghana
As part of the government’s support for small businesses, 7,000 more entrepreneurs have been taken through intensive training to build and handle their enterprises. This is quickly followed by the announcement of tax holidays for young entrepreneurs under 35 years of age, as is a respite for their businesses.
NEIP Business Support Program essentially concentrates on the provision of business development services, start-up incubators and funding for early-stage businesses, seeking to enable them grow and attain success.
More Tech Stories:
- Eight Fintech Start-ups Secure $1million Fund from AlphaCode
- Nigeria’s DropQue Wins Seedstars Lagos
- CoinAfrique And AMI Secure Investments from Investisseurs & Partenaires
- Open Hands Tech Launches App to Tackle Social Challenges
- Safaricom Hikes Voice, SMS and Data Prices in Accordance with New Taxes Act