The Garu-Tempane District Chief Executive, Mr Emmanuel Sin-nyet Asigri, has said patronage of local products was the surest way to develop the potentials of community-based entrepreneurs and reduce poverty.
He said by constantly improving products to meet the taste of local consumers, entrepreneurs could win their confidence and expand their businesses that would impact positively on the national economy.
Mr Asigri made the observation when addressing the closing session of a 10-day skills training for 38 women in soap making and an exhibition at Denugu, near Garu in the Garu-Tempane District of the Upper East region.
The training programme was organised by the Business Advisory Centre (BAC) of the Rural Enterprise Project (REP) as part of efforts to equip rural communities with the necessary skills to adopt alternative livelihood support activities to reduce unemployment and poverty.
Mr Asigri said the area was endowed with both natural and human resources that could be used judiciously to improve their living standards.
He noted that the craze for anything foreign had contributed to the deplorable state of most rural communities and appealed to the people to reduce their taste for foreign goods.
Mr Asigri said developed economies attained their status through innovative ideas to improving their products and urged local manufacturers to follow suit to maintain the consumption of locally manufactured goods.
He announced that the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs had released a ¢500 million to the assembly to support women and advised women groups to form co-operatives to access the money to expand their businesses.
Mr Moomin Rahman, Garu-Tempane District Co-ordinator of BAC said the centre was established to meet global challenges confronting rural communities to offer better alternative to improve their living standards.
He said it promotes employment avenues for the youth and vulnerable women and urged more people to participate in programmes of the centre to be self-reliant.
Naba Badalon Chimsa, Chief of Denugu, appealed to Government, assemblies and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to assist trainees of such programmes with tools and capital to make them beneficial to society.
He said through such training programmes local initiative would be stimulated and sustained to discourage migration into urban areas.
