TechnoServe boss urges entrepreneurs to be innovative

The Country Director of TechnoServe, Mr Samuel Baba Adongo, has advised entrepreneurs to adopt innovative approaches to their businesses in order to deal with the challenges that the economy is facing currently.

This, he said, was necessary because it would aid entrepreneurs to save cost in order to sustain their businesses under the prevailing tough economic conditions.

In an interview with the GRAPHIC BUSINESS, Mr Adongo indicated that one way to innovate was for businesses to look to new markets.
His call comes at a time when some members of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) have expressed worry over the current state of the country’s economy.

He noted that the Small Medium Enterprise (SME) sector was key in the production of goods and services, which contributed significantly to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Official figures from the 2013 Banking Survey Report prepared by the PwC indicated that about 90 per cent of companies registered in the country were SMEs and the sector contributed about 49 per cent of Ghana’s GDP in 2012.

The country director said the government ought to establish a fund that would serve as backbone to support the SME sector.
He said this was necessary because globally, the SME sector contributed significantly to the growth of many developing countries, including Ghana.

ENGINE inducts 76

Meanwhile, the Enhancing Growth in New Enterprises (ENGINE) has inducted 76 entrepreneurs under the ENGINE Scale Up II Programme into the ENGINE alumni network at a graduation ceremony in Accra.

This means that the new crop of entrepreneurs have joined a growing network of 100 ENGINE alumni that are already benefiting from essential capital and business development services injected into their businesses.

The inductees were divided into three tiers, with the first group receiving £6,000 as seed capital with aftercare, involving a mix of Business Development Services (BDS) for 12 months.

The winners in the second group category received seed capital of £ 3,000 with aftercare package, and the third category winners were awarded with aftercare package.

Entrepreneurial support

The Minister of State in Charge of Private Sector Development, Mr Rashid Pelpuo, lauded ENGINE for the financial support and training it is providing to entrepreneurs in the country.

He encouraged entrepreneurs who had been inducted into the ENGINE alumni network to take advantage of the support ENGINE was providing to improve their businesses.

According to him, his office, from the first week in August, would initiate a programme to train 300 entrepreneurs to enable them to develop their full potential in their field of endeavour. GB