Joy Business has been awarded for innovation and creativity in business reporting.

A 3-minute news-feature, “JOY BUSINESS VAN”, won the Media Reportage Award at the maiden edition of the SME Ghana Awards held in Accra last night.

The “JOY BUSINESS VAN” is an on-the-ground feature presented by Daryl Kwawu on the 1pm edition of the Joy Business Report every Monday and Wednesday.

The segment which started airing in February is designed to throw the spotlight on the success stories of primarily outstanding Ghanaian Small and Medium scale Enterprises.

The SME Ghana Awards is organized by Imagine-8 Company Limited in partnership with the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the World Association of SMEs.

According to Richard Norgah, Head of Events at Imagine-8, the jury of business professionals and academicians adjudged the JOY BUSINESS VAN, winner of the SME Media Reportage award because it is exceptionally contributing to the development of SME’s in the country.

“We have all been listening to the Business-Van on JOY FM and we realized it promoted SME’s. The jury therefore settled on it as the winner out of the several nominees from other stations” he said.

Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Kweku Ricketts Hagan, who graced the occasion, also explained government is taking steps to ensure SME’s access credit at cheaper rates.  

“In the past, government had done a lot of borrowing through short terms instruments like  Treasury Bills which only crowded out the SME’s in respect of access to credit. In a bid to reverse this trend, the Finance Ministry is therefore moving from the short-term end of the market to the long term to drive the rates down and also make credit available for the private sector which includes SMEs” he said.

The SME Ghana Awards is aimed at showcasing successful SMEs and the contribution made by various stakeholders in promoting the growth of SMEs.  

The overall award for the maiden edition, the best SME was won by food processing firm, Koko King. 

Below is the full list of the award-categories and the respective winners.                                          

1.            Agribusiness – Greater Accra Poultry Farmers Association

2.            Electronics- Reroy Cables

3.            Food Processing- Koko King

4.            Plastics- J &J Plastics Company Limited

5.            Textiles and Clothing- Nallem Clothing

6.            SME Trade Sector – The Kings Gr oup of Companies

7.            SME Service Sector - Joy Standard Schools

8.            SME Health Sector – New Crystal Health Services

9.            SME Safety in the Home - Safety World Engineering

10.          SME Agency – BUSAC Fund

11.          Best Woman Entrepreneur – CEO Reroy Cables

12.          Product Innovation – Koko King

13.          Brand Discovery – Horseman Shoes

14.          Entrepreneur Ventures – Koko King

15.          Achievers – Eden Tree Company Limited

16.          Researchers Award – Professor Joshua Abor, Vice Dean, University of Ghana Business School

17.          Best Food Joint Award – Heavy Do Chop Bar

18.          Rising Sector  -  FSML Multimedia, Rite 90.1FM

19.          Rising Star – Agro- Africa

20.          Human Capacity Development – Edem Adzaho, SPEC Consult

21.          SME Platinum award – Koko King

22.          SME Media Reportage – Joy Business (Joy Business Van)

23.          SME Overall Best Award – Koko King