A consultant on Small Scale Enterprises (SMEs), has called on stakeholders to take a critical look at the support received by businesses to harness their potential for national growth.
Mr Daniel Nii Otokunor Sackey, the Managing Consultant of Ephesus Consulting, a Ghanaian consulting company that provides consulting for SMEs, made the call on Wednesday in Accra.
He said it is estimated that SMEs account for 70 per cent of Ghana’s gross domestic product but SMEs are not getting the required support that helps to boost the sector and 92 per cent of its transactions are expected to grow over time
Mr Sackey who was addressing the maiden SMEs seminar organised by the NDK Financial Services said since the SMEs are increasingly being recognised as productive drivers of economic growth and development for most African countries, there is the need for critical attention to be accorded them in their development.
“In view of the increasing emergence of SMEs across the Ghanaian landscape and the potential they hold, it is important to take a critical look at the kind of support SMEs receive in order to harness their potential for success,” he said.
Mr Sackey mentioned the lack of access to credit, lack of formal governance, management and financial structures, a centralised structure often dominated by owners, lack of soft management skills in marketing, Information Technology, Human Resources and risk management as some of the challenges facing SMEs in Ghana.
“These challenges make it difficult for SMEs to compete in the market and are therefore unlikely to gain the critical market share for profitability and growth,” he said.
Mr Sackey called for effective measures such as good governance, management and financial structures to help the operations of SMEs as well as to enable better the transition into larger entities capable of competing in marketplaces.
Speaking on the theme: “Positioning your Business for Investments and Succession” for SMEs, Mrs Kuorkor Ayisa, the Deputy Managing Director of NDK Financial Services, said the engagement was aimed at facilitating discussions to extract the real needs and opportunities for SMEs in Ghana.
She said the seminar, which seeks to be an annual event forms part of the company’s silver jubilee celebrations.
“Dubbed the 2016 SME seminar for the NDK Financial Services it is our primary goal to explore proven ideas and strategies for scaling up and aiding small and medium enterprises access to finance.
“Encouraged by the rapid economic growth in Ghana and Africa as a whole, entrepreneurs are looking to explore new business opportunities in order to grow hence our engagement,” she said.
Ms Roselyn Aboagye, the Head of Investment of NDK Financial services, advised participants to invest in their future as doing so would help them to create short and long lasting wealth.
Mr Martin Holm, the Business Development Executive of the company, urged participants to take advantage of the seminar towards the growth of their businesses to meet their goals, visions and missions in their careers.
Some participants who spoke to the Ghana News Agency lauded the company for the training that sought not to only help the SME sector but the financial growth of the country at large.
GNA
