The Ghana National Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GNCCI) in collaboration with the BUSAC Fund has organised a 3-day residential retreat with stakeholders at the Eastern Premier Hotel, Koforidua from Wednesday, 2^nd December to Friday, 4^th December, 2020.

The rationale for the retreat (dialogue and post-dialogue meetings) was aimed at reaching consensus and building synergies among stakeholders, via the GNCCI Business Pulse, to provide continuous business diagnostics data for policy innovation as well as monitor business performance.

In his opening remarks, Clement Osei-Amoako (President of GNCCI) expressed his appreciation to the stakeholders for honouring the invitation which emphasises the “importance that stakeholders attach to the mobilisation of business diagnostics data to inform policy design and implementation”.

He noted that the GNCCI has developed a robust analytical framework that adopts evidence-based approach to index and track business value and growth metrics, risk exposures and mitigating strategies, and impact of industrial and trade related policies on businesses in Ghana.

Mr. Osei-Amoako was of the firm conviction that the business diagnostics report presents the country with a huge opportunity to assess the readiness of MSMES as well as corporates and large enterprises in the participation of the AfCFTA.

He assured the stakeholders of the GNCCI’s commitment in using business data analytics to provide targeted business-support services to its members and the wider business community.

The Fund Manager of BUSAC Fund, Nicolas Gebara, commended the GNCCI for the bold initiative, through the business performance indexes and SME Policy Index, to support government’s policies and programmes for a conducive environment.

He noted this is “a real approach of having a constructive means to dialogue and to help the growth of SMEs in terms of job creation, which is a key locomotive of the economy”.

 Mr. Gebara affirmed that the GNCCI is in a better position as a dialogue partner with the government on the basis of business diagnostic data.

He urged the GNCCI and stakeholders to ensure continuity of the data inputs as well as interpret the data accordingly to inform policy design and implementation.

In his presentation, Mr. Julius Bradford Lamptey (Head of Research & Advocacy) underscored the GNCCI’s legislative mandate of promoting and protecting commercial and industrial interests in the country.

He noted that one of the legislative functions of the GNCCI is the “collection and circulation of statistics relating to trade, commerce, industry and manufactures”. Thus, the GNCCI Business Pulse serves as one of the avenues adopted by the Chamber to mobilise business diagnostics data to serve the interest of the private sector of Ghana.

As a trailblazing initiative in Ghana and West Africa, Mr. Lamptey reiterated that the GNCCI Business Pulse would seek to build synergistic relationships with stakeholders in mobilising the requisite data to inform policy innovation and design.

In this regard, Mr. Lamptey informed participants that the GNCCI would be requesting institutional representation on the GNCCI SME Index Committee and Governance Board.

Dr. Samuel Frimpong Boateng, the Lead Consultant and CEO of Africa Investments and Development Group (Afrideg), delivered the research methodology and key findings.

He outlined the selection criteria for the methodology which included minimum of three years reporting of financials, evidence of business operation, and satisfactory data for the index construction.

In all, 61 variables (as captured in the financial statements) were used to construct eight  indexes to track and predict business growth and performance across 17 industries:

·         Business Growth Index

·         Business Value Index

·         Business Resilience Index

·         Business Dynamic Index

·         Business Risk Index

·         Business Sustainability Index

·         The Quality Composite Score

·         Industry Profiles