Trade and Industry Minister Alan Kyeremanten is embarking on a crucial ground assessment of the value for money impact of some 37 Business Resource Centres (BRCs) constructed by government across some 37 District and municipalities in the country.

With an investment of US$8 million, government argues these BRCs act as the engine for industrial growth and the much talked about One District One Factory (1D1F) projects.

Speaking at one of the business resource centres, the Trade and Industry Minister stated that government plans to decentralise its support systems to give room for rural folks across the country to access basic business needs to expand their industries.

“It requires government to establish its presence together with the private sector in each district, to attract the private sector to go into the rural communities. That is the essence of the business resource centres,” he said. 

This initiative falls in line with the rural enterprise programme that seeks to provide the needed assistance to rural folks to boost their entrepreneurship drive and create more jobs.

Present on tour, the National Director of the Rural Enterprise Programme, Kwesi Attah-Antwi said the BRCs “are focused on production of micro and small enterprise activities, skills training and others.”

Background:

The BRCs are all being equipped with modern IT infrastructure, and networked through a virtual private network, to facilitate efficient delivery of their operations.

In November 2019, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen, indicated that “the BRCs will offer support services to contribute to the One-District-One Factory initiative, including adopting a more transformative approach to strategically integrating rural informal smallholder raw material supply base into corporate entities along various commodity value chains that have been identified to be relevant the 1D1F projects.”

The operations of the BRCs will be regulated by the National Board for Small-Scale Industries.

The 37 District and Municipalities where the BRCs have been constructed are: Ahafo Ano South West, Asante Akim Central Municipal, Atwima Nwabiagya Municipal, Obuasi Municipal, Sekyere East District, Sekyere South, Ejisu Municipal in the Ashanti Region; Asunafo North Municipal, Atebubu-Amantin Municipal, Dormaa Central Municipal, Tano South Municipal, Techiman Municipal in the Brong Ahafo Region.

Others are Agona West Municipal, Assin Fosu Municipal, Awutu Senya District, and Komenda Edina Eguafo Abirem Municipal of the Central Region; Asuogyaman District, East Akim Municipal and Kwaebibirem Municipal of the Eastern Region; and Ada East District, and Weija Gbawe Municipal in the Greater Accra Region.