The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Enterprises Agency, Mrs. Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, has disclosed that the agency has disbursed over GH¢500million to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to her, the monies were meant to support the growth of the businesses, adding that the SMEs were given a one-year moratorium for repayment.
“We disbursed over GH¢500 million. I don’t have the exact figures here but I think GH¢520 million plus went out as funding to Ghanaian SMEs,” she said in an interview on JoyNews’ Business Edition of PM Express on Thursday.
The topic for discussion was “SME support amid economic challenges.”
She noted that although the moratorium kicked off recently, the beneficiary SMEs have “started paying in various capacities.”
Mrs. Yankey-Ayeh further explained that GH¢200 million of the amount was given as grants to SMEs.
According to her, the grant through Mobile Money (Adom initiative) “is not something that we will be going out to collect.”
“That grant component of the funding went through the mobile money system, because we knew that that was the best and most efficient way to get to the beneficiaries, and those who got the funds through Adom are those who got up to GH¢2000,” she added.
Recently, the Development Bank Ghana (DBG) also offered to give long-term financing to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) operating in the country, with guaranteed operational independence, a clear vision, and a strong balance sheet totaling 750 million dollars.
Meanwhile, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in the Ashanti Region have been urged to adopt GrEEn concepts in growing their businesses.
With depleting and limited natural resources, businesses harnessing renewable and eco-friendly resources would facilitate their restoration.
As part of efforts to nurture and grow SMEs and corporate businesses in Ghana, the CalBank PLC and Focus 1 media have been meeting with some corporate businesses in the Ashanti region.
The stakeholder meeting was to educate and promote the adoption of an eco-conscious business environment using energy efficient and renewable resources.
