The Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyeremanten, yesterday inaugurated a new Business Resource Centre (BRC) at Agona in the Sekyere South District of Ashanti Region to provide support services to businesses in the area.
The centre forms part of the Rural Enterprises Programme which seeks to enhance business growth in rural areas.
Speaking at the event, the Minister reiterated government’s commitment to stimulate private sector growth to address unemployment challenges and improve lives in rural communities.
This, he said, required that the private sector was given the needed support to be able to explore business opportunities that create sustainable jobs.
In this regard, he explained that, the centre was a one-stop enterprise support unit for businesses and decentralised offices of business regulatory agencies.
“We have introduced a number of initiatives to create the necessary conditions for the private sector to grow. This centre ensures that there is enabling government machinery that supports businesses.
“One key benefit is that businesses will be attracted to areas like here and not force their way to the cities although their raw materials are here,” he stated.
He said the centre would ensure decentralisation of interventions introduced by the government to facilitate private sector growth.
“What we seek to achieve is also to bring the regulatory agencies, including Ghana Standards Authority, Food and Drugs Authority, Registrar General’s Department, Environmental Protection Agency, among others, close to businesses to easily access their services.
“We want to eliminate the added stress of coming to Accra to get their services. We have, therefore, linked all the regulatory agencies to the business resource centres where people can easily access their services,” he noted.
The centres, the Minister explained, would also become decentralized service point for banks and insurance companies concerned with providing financial support for small businesses.
To ensure that the centre was effective in providing technical support to small businesses, Mr Kyeremanten noted that, a pool of experts and consultants on various fields were on hand to assist the BRC’s undertake their mandate.
In a related development, the Minister interacted with staff of the Atebubu-Amantin Business Resource Centre and charged them to seek out small businesses in the area for support to enable them expand.
FROM CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS, AGONA
