Mr Bede Ziedeng, Northern Regional Minister has descended heavily on the Ghanaian media, accusing them of being interested in baseless cynicisms that could damage the reputation of successful indigenous entrepreneurs. 

He mentioned Zoomlion and RLG, both indigenous successful Ghanaian businesses, which owed their growth and development through partnerships with  the government, saying, “Sadly, the media in Ghana do not seem to be interested in highlighting these success stories, but they are only interested in baseless cynicisms”.

Mr Ziedeng suggested that the media focused on the positives of these organizations, noting that sometimes it was amazing the way the media emphasized on minor negatives as against huge positives.

He was addressing an information-sharing forum on Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund aimed at strengthening the advocacy capacities of private sector business groups and associations in Ghana.

The forum brought together grantees from the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions to share their achievements and disseminate the experiences on successful advocacy to trigger private/public sector collaboration to promote economic development.

Mr Ziedeng said it was also extremely important that businesses conducted their operations in an open and transparent manner so as not to create suspicions in the minds of the public and in the process undermine the policy of public/private partnership.
           
He said the uniqueness of the BUSAC Fund laid in its objective of improving the business environment in the country for private sector growth to identify, analyze and research into the business environment for purposes of bringing up the challenges.
            
Mr Nicolas Gebara, BUSAC Fund Manager, said the private sector was key to local economic development in securing income and offering employment opportunities to the up-coming generation to promote socio-economic development.

He said the Fund had contributed to addressing the challenges that hindered development of the private sector in the country, noting that associations, farmer-based organizations and trade unions had all been supported to improve the production and competitive capacities.

Mr Gebara attributed the achievements to the strong support by DANIDA, USAID and the EU which had streamlined administrative bottlenecks negatively affecting the growth of businesses.

Mrs Evelyn Dibaar, Executive Director of House of Liberation for Empowerment, a non-governmental organization based in Wa, gave a testimony that her outfit had benefited greatly from the BUSAC Fund and had expanded its operations to reduce poverty in parts of the Upper West Region.

She said the NGO had over 800 women who engage in processing of diverse products including morringa, honey and the weaving of smock and appealed to business entities and development partners to come to their aid to enhance their operations.