The Accra Digital Centre, in partnership with the Corporate Secretarial and Training Services, has launched a Business Support Clinic (BSC) initiative to help entrepreneurs and start-ups to grow their business.

The Business Support Clinic is to provide legal and corporate business support services to start-ups and young entrepreneurs in the country.

Deputy Minister of Communication, Vincent Sowah Odotei commended the Accra Digital Centre and its partner institutions for the initiative.

He said the Business Support Clinic was a right step towards the growth of the country’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups.

He said many a time most young start-ups failed along the way because they did not have the right persons or institutions to guide them in their entrepreneur journey, adding that, the Clinic will be a platform to cater for the corporate needs of young entrepreneurs and SMEs.

“As a growing start-up or SME, it is important you get the right framework and environment to grow, as well as a team or someone who will guide you in your entrepreneur journey so that you don’t fall along the way,” he said.

Head of Operations at the Accra Digital Centre, David Ofori said the initiative was part of a comprehensive strategy adopted by the Centre to drive growth of the tech SMEs and startup ecosystem.

He said the BSC would be hosted at the Centre as a consultancy service that would be run every Friday from 1000 hours and 1500 hours.

“There will be a schedule officer at the Accra Digital Centre responsible for walk-ins or online bookings from Monday to Friday between the hours of 0800 hours and 1700 hours, however, appointments must be booked four days in advance via the BSc website or mobile app,” he said.

He said the BSC would also deliver well-designed training programmes structured to engage and equip start-ups to improve their legal proficiencies and statutory legal compliances in their specialised areas.

Mr Ofori said the training sessions would include interactive exercises, practical examples, and real-time coaching.

Mr Denis Adjei, an Executive of Corporate Secretarial and Training Services, said they partnered the Accra Digital Centre to launch the Business Support Clinic as a stopgap to the challenges many young entrepreneurs and start-ups faced in business advisory support.

He said the focus for implementing the initiative was to provide SMEs the enabling environment for them to grow.

Mr Adjei said the brain behind naming the initiative a Business Support Clinic was that it would operate as a business clinic where business advisory and support needs of start-ups when diagnosed would be cured.

He said, however, there would be cost ranges for particular business advisory or legal services.