Mr Mohammed Bukari, the Upper East Regional Manager, National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) says his outfit is working diligently to ensure that small scale businesses thrive in the region.
He said there was the need for businesses to revive after the COVID-19 break and the NBSSI was providing both technical training and capacity building to small and medium scale business owners to upgrade their skills in the management of their businesses.
“A lot is going on in the various districts to support business growth as part of our core mandate,” he added.
Mr Bukari was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Bolgatanga in response to what opportunities had been made available to businesses to rejuvenate after the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said Micro and Small Enterprises (SMEs) were the backbone of the country’s economic development and therefore government ensured that the NBSSI was equipped to carry out its mandate to support them.
He said NBSSI was collaborating with its partners to provide non-financial and technical support to equip the SMEs to sustainably develop their businesses and improve incomes.
The government, in 2020 provided stimulus packages to SMEs under the COVID-19 Alleviation Project and Business Support Scheme (CAP BUSS) to mitigate the difficulties businesses suffered under the pandemic.
Many women in business, in the region, benefited from the project.
In 2022, a second phase of the COVID-19 response programme is being rolled out to further enhance economic recovery, with a grant from the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA) grant programme, government, and the World Bank under the Ghana Economic Transformation Project for SMEs nationwide in the various sectors of the economy.
The NBSSI is a non-profit public sector organisation under the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and the Presidential Special Initiatives under the Business Advisory Centers (BACs) established by Act 434 of 1981 with a mandate to promote the growth and development of Micro and Small Enterprises in the Country. GNA
