The National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) has urged government through the Ministry of Trade and Industry to, make available, appreciable cut of the impending 2019 budget for harnessing its operations.

According to Executive Director of the board, Kosi Yankey, hitherto, the government paid little attention to her outfit during the disbursement of the national cake.

She believes this situation if redressed, could go a long way to solve the challenges that the micro, small and medium businesses face.

“I’m hoping for the best in terms of the amount of funding that the government would give to us… it’s very good and important, as we look at this new direction; what government is going to really support this agency to be able to deliver on its mandate so we look forward to the budget that is coming up, we have good hopes for it because a couple of years ago the budget [NBSSI budget support] was nothing to write home about.”  Madam Yankey said.

National SME policy

The government has moved to the establishment of a National Policy Framework for SME development. The policy, which is currently at the mercies of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, when implemented seeks to create an SME friendly business environment, facilitating the acquisition of modern and appropriate technology and inculcating an entrepreneurial culture.

Meanwhile, NBSSI says it seeks to leverage the impending policy to increase its support to micro, small and medium businesses in the country. Madam Yankey says she looks forward to the implementation of the said policy in November this year.

NBSSI restructuring

“The [NBSSI] board has also hinted of plans to restructure its operations to improve its support to the SMEs.
Over the years, we’ve had what we called the Business Advisory Centres; in a couple of months we are going to transform them into Business Resource Centres,” the Executive Director said.

According to her, this includes developing a platform such that the centres would become ‘one-stop shops’ where entrepreneurs within the local economy and MSMEs would walk into these resource centres and be able to services that they need to be able to grow and develop their businesses.

Madam Yankey says this development is in alignment with the SDGs and the government’s agenda of a Ghana beyond Aid.

Kosi Yankey spoke at the celebration of some top beneficiaries of the Enhancing Growth in New Enterprises (ENGINE) programme organized by the British High Commission in collaboration with the Department for International Development (DFID). 

The event saw her outfit honoured for its contribution to the SME sector.