Ashanti Region has recorded the highest number of applications for government’s stimulus package dubbed the CAP Business Support Scheme (CAP BuSS).

Some 28.6 per cent of total applications are Medium, Small, and Micro Enterprises (MSME) coming from the Ashanti Region, according to data released from the CAP BuSS online portal on June 5.

It is followed by Central Region with 13 percent, then Greater Accra – 12 percent; Eastern Region – 11.5 percent, followed by other regions.

Volta, Bono East, Western North, Ahafo, Upper East and West, Savanna, Oti, and North East regions; all recording less than 5 percent of the applications.

Reasons for the differences in applications have been partly attributed to population distribution, and the concentration of major economic centres in Ghana where MSMEs operate.

The Government of Ghana CAP Business Support Scheme (CAP BuSS) received over 170,000 successful registrations on the online portal with about 65 per cent of this number successfully completing applications.

In a statement by the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI), due diligence on the successful applications is on-going and disbursement will begin shortly.

“In coordination with relevant Participating Financial Institutions, the necessary due diligence is underway to ensure our hardworking Ghanaian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) who are the backbone of the economy receive requisite assistance in these hard times,” noted the Executive Director of NBSSI, Kosi Yankey-Ayeh.

To further ensure all eligible but disenfranchised MSMEs easily access the CAP BuSS, selected staff of NBSSI and members of the CAP BUSS Steering Committee are conducting nationwide outreach and monitoring visits to selected trade and business associations and market centres across the country.

“Recognising that majority of MSMEs in Ghana (80%) fall within the informal sector and will require some support to fill out the online application form, our NBSSI Regional Offices and 180 Business Advisory Centres across Ghana have in the last two weeks been working diligently, and in collaboration with the respective metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) have set up Help Desks to support applicants with data entry,” explained Mrs. Kosi Yankey-Ayeh. '

She added that, “The nationwide outreach and monitoring visits are for purposes of scalability and to ensure all other disadvantaged groups easily access the Programme and have relevant information to work with, as well as give NBSSI insight into realities and challenges of our intervention”.

The Scheme, which was launched on May 19, by President Akufo-Addo, forms part of the Government of Ghana’s Coronavirus Alleviation Programme (CAP) intended to provide support to MSMEs negatively impacted by the Coronavirus Pandemic.

The management of the CAP BuSS Programme is being facilitated by NBSSI, a government-subvented agency under the Ministry of Trade and Industry mandated by an Act of Parliament to grow, strengthen and support MSMEs in Ghana.