Tullow Ghana has partnered with Invest in Africa (IIA) to deliver training to a number of its small and medium enterprises (SME) suppliers as part of the Access to Finance programme.

The Access to Finance programme is an eight-month-long programme, to be delivered in two parts, designed to equip selected suppliers with the requisite knowledge, skills and support to effectively engage with financial institutions in the areas of refinancing, restructuring of existing funding arrangement to improve liquidity.

The programme is designed to support SME’s whose businesses were impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, to secure finance and enable them to restructure their existing credit facilities. 

The first workshop was held on 15^th September 2021 under the theme “Access to Finance for Tullow Suppliers”.

The first part of the programme focused on building the capacity of 150 participants of the Tullow Ghana supplier community to understand the details of credit refinancing and restructuring, alternative funding sources or mechanisms and an understanding of the general terms and conditions for selecting each option. 

The session covered topics including background to business financing, business risk assessment, financial products and services and requirements to access finance – finance readiness.

The second part which is designed to be a customised one-to-one business and financial advisory support will enable selected companies successfully to improve their liquidity, deliver on their contractual obligations and enhance their financial sustainability. 

Speaking at the opening of the session, Supply Chain Manager for Tullow, Paul Watson emphasised Tullow’s commitment to the development of local capacity for participation in the oil and gas industry in Ghana.

He further reiterated the importance of this initiative following Tullow’s decision to invest over $4 billion in its Ghana operations over the next 10 years, which will deliver maximum value from its Jubilee and TEN assets.

Country Director for IIA, Carol Annang thanked Tullow for selecting IIA to provide this crucial support to the SMEs.

She said the ramifications of the covid-19 pandemic on the financing for Ghanaian SMEs may be far-reaching, but the contribution of this intervention, albeit short-term, will be much longer-lasting. 

Tullow continues to support local capacity development through various targeted knowledge sharing interventions to equip local companies and increase their participation in the industry while making them globally competitive.