The Ghana Standards Authority and Invest in Africa have signed a joint Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that is aimed at making Ghanaian businesses, especially SMEs, become more competitive globally through improved quality and access to financial and technical support.

Following the 2016 African Partner Pool (APP) Business Forum the relevance of  information on quality standards for business growth was evident hence the signing of this MOU to help bridge the knowledge gap of Ghanaian businesses, especially the SMEs.

This MOU will allow Invest in Africa to advertise the services of the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) on the Invest in Africa and African Partner Pool websites, with direct links to the GSA website so as to inform and simplify the process of accessing the services of GSA.

SMEs will also have the opportunity to participate in events, training programmes and forums that focus on quality standards and their application to business growth and development.

Signing the MOU, the Executive Director for Ghana Standards Authority, Prof Alex Dodoo pointed out the need to create awareness for the services of the Authority, and their readiness to facilitate, direct and assist SMEs to produce quality made in Ghana goods and access their services to meet the required standards.

Invest in Africa (IIA), a cross-sector partnership of companies with the vision to create thriving African economies, has been set up to give businesses access to skills, finance and new markets.

This is done through its key initiatives - the African Partner Pool (APP), an online business platform that connects international companies to validated local businesses.

Another initiative of Invest In Africa is the Business Excellence Programme, a combined Development Partners & Private Sector funded programme with the aim of building businesses to be more competitive.

Sam Brandful, the Ghana manager for Invest in Africa said the collaboration with the GSA will guide local businesses to expand, understand and meet Ghanaian and international standards.

He said this will also empower local businesses to support the Ghanaian economy while addressing major challenges which affect their growth.

Ghana Standards Authority joins the cross sector group of companies that IIA is currently working with through various initiatives.

These include: Tullow Ghana, EY, AGI, AB & David Law, Ecobank, Modec Ghana, UT Bank, GIPC, Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), Newmont Mining, Guinness Ghana, GE, AFDB,FMO, B&FT, Multi Media Group (MMG) and Dun and Bradstreet.