Some 90 Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) will benefit from a Sustaining Competitive and Responsible Enterprises (SCORE) training programme to boost the growth and productivity of SMEs to create jobs.
The programme, an initiative of Invest for jobs, a special initiative on training and job creation, to improve the business ecosystem in some selected sectors of the economy is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (BMZ) and implemented by GIZ.
Mr John Duti, Team Leader of Invest for Jobs, speaking at the launch of the Invest in Jobs project in Accra, said one of the key objectives of the Programme was to enhance the efficiency and competitiveness of Ghanaian SMEs, as well as their job-creating capacities.
He said owing to the huge contribution of SMEs to Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product, there was the need to make them locally and internationally competitive and strengthen their resilience against external shocks, especially in times of crisis as currently with the COVID pandemic.
A total of 60 growth-oriented SMEs with high job-creation potential, would receive the SCORE training and another 30 would be trained in Business Continuity and Recovery.
Mr Duti said the programme was to promote job-creating growth of enterprises in Ghana and other African countries, hence interventions being implemented to help build a more enabling environment for investment by European enterprises in Ghana.
It is also to increase the capacities of Micro Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) and improve the business ecosystem for the automotive industry and other sectors.
Mr. Kweku Odame-Takyi, Director-General of Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI), said the programme complemented the Government’s industrialization agenda as it sought to create a generation of productivity awareness operatives, develop cordial management and staff relationship, as well as ensured workplace safety and security as expected of the SCORE outcomes.
He said the MDPI had joined the SCORE project in 2013 and had trained 250 enterprises, many of which had experienced increased productivity and profits.
Mr Odame-Takyi commended the BMZ for joining and providing financial support as the International Labour Organisation (ILO) exited sponsorship.
“As the German government is currently hosting our President Nana Akufo- Addo, I think our cooperation is well-grounded and in line with the existing cooperation between Ghana and the Federal Republic of Germany,” he said.
He assured that MDPI and its implementation partners were committed to delivering on the Programme to promote enterprise competitiveness and sustainable decent jobs of SMEs in Ghana.
Mr Samuel Asiedu, the National Coordinator for the ILO, Ghana, was optimistic that MDPI would show leadership and work seamlessly with the other implementing partners, including the SCORE Training Solutions Ghana, Sekondi Takoradi Chamber of Commerce and Industries and HoCo Consult to implement the project successfully.
SCORE is an ILO global programme seeking to improve productivity and working conditions in SMEs with practical classroom sessions and in-factory consulting which demonstrates best international practices in the manufacturing and service sectors and helps SMEs to participate in global supply chains
Mr Asiedu said the goal was to build enterprises that would do business globally, create jobs and improve the economy of Ghana hence they would perform creditably and sustain the partnership with GIZ into the future.
He urged the implementing partners to use the opportunity to further strengthen the bond that existed between the Government of Ghana, Germany, Switzerland and Norway.
