Thirty traders at the Kwabenya market have received interactive business and financial management training from the Pan-Africa Business Developers (PABD).
The training forms part of the PABD’s Small and Medium Enterprises Development and Innovation Project, which seeks to train and empower growth-oriented Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME), especially youth and women-led businesses to innovate, grow and build resilience.
The project targets 100,000 MSMEs in the formal and informal sectors across the country with business innovation and financial management skills and tools.
Focus areas of the programme include business innovation, financial management, marketing, customer relationship management, and business registration and regulatory requirements.
Other aspects of the programme include providing technical support and mentorship in business innovation, financial management, business registration, and access to finance.
Topics discussed, included basic budgeting, bookkeeping, cash flow management, profit and loss accounting, marketing techniques, effective customer relationships, problem-solving techniques, business registration and regulatory requirements using interactive and participatory approaches.
The Managing Partner of PABD, Kirk Agyekum, addressing the beneficiaries at the training workshop last Wednesday, said SMEs were the backbone of any economy, and make significant contributions to economic growth because they help create jobs, increase household incomes, and contribute to poverty reduction.
Successful small businesses, he said, put money back into their local community through paychecks and taxes, which can support the creation of new small businesses and improve local public services.
Mr Agyekum explained that the training was to “educate you on how to make your business grow and to make you more equipped with more managerial skills and technical know-how on how to run a smooth operation with your business.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, it took a lot of time for most of you to get back on your feet. Many people did not recover at all and this was caused by the lack of certain business management skills.”
In this regard, Mr Agyekum said it was critical the beneficiaries took the training seriously so as to improve on themselves and become resilient.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
