The National Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and Entrepreneurship policy aimed to foster the growth and development of the MSMEs sector is to be immediately revised.Its revision, according to the Minister of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, was to ensure that the policy responded to the current needs of the MSMEs sector.Mrs Ofosu-Adjare stated this at the 2025 MSMEs Day celebration held in Accra on Friday, under the theme: 'connecting the Entrepreneurs: Unlocking Digital Opportunities for MSMEs.'She said that the revised National MSMEs and Entrepreneurship policy would be accompanied by an implementation strategy to ensure effective delivery and measurable results.Additionally, Mrs Ofosu-Adjare indicated that the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA) was to develop a new strategic plan with a focus on youth and women entrepreneurs, persons with disabilities, and the vast informal economy.The government, she emphasised, was taking decisive actions to provide MSMEs with the needed financial and infrastructural support by expanding affordable credit facilities and accelerating the development of industrial parks, agro-processing zones, and upgrading logistics networks in order to ensure that they had access to reliable utilities and efficient transport.Furthermore, she said that the government was committed to simplifying access to its support, business registration, and certification by addressing bureaucratic fragmentation and enhancing digital channels for MSMEs.Mrs Ofosu-Adjare also highlighted that her ministry had established the Business Regulatory Reform (BRR) Unit to coordinate and streamline certification and registration processes across agencies using their digital platforms to help address regulatory and certification challenges.A comprehensive bill to provide the BRR Unit with the legal mandate to effectively support MSMEs in navigating regulatory requirements, Mrs Ofosu-Adjare stressed, was also being developed.Some of the flagship initiatives that was being pursued by the ministry to transform the MSMEs sector, Mrs Ofosu-Adjare noted, were the Accelerated Export Development Programme, Feed the Industry, and the Made-in-Ghana Promotion Programme.Others Mrs Ofosu-Adjare elaborated were the Agribusiness Transformation Programme, Rapid Industrialisation for Jobs Strategy, Women in Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, and the Free Apprenticeship and Skills-for-Industry Programme."We are encouraging financial institutions and fintechs to create products tailored to the unique needs of small enterprises such as mobile credit, zero-free transactions, and merchant-friendly platforms," she explained.The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GEA, Ms Margaret Ansei, said the theme of the celebration spoke to the current realities and aspirations that the country shared with regards to the transformation of the MSMEs sector.She underlined that the GEA was pursuing a comprehensive strategy that included access to finance, market, productivity improvement programmes, digital empowerment, business formalisation, and other targeted support for priority sectors."These efforts are designed to create a more enabling environment for MSMEs to thrive, scale, and contribute meaningfully to our national development," Ms Ansei elaborated.The celebration featured panel discussions on various topics such as business formalisation and digital, and financial inclusion, as well as the launch of the MSMEs gateway portal in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).The MSMEs gateway portal would serve as a one-stop platform to power entrepreneurs with timely access to resources, services to business, and supporting tools.There were also solidarity messages from UNDP Ghana, German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ, Ghana), Stanbic Bank Ghana, MTN Ghana, a delegation of the European Union (EU), and leaders of the private sector and financial institutions. BY BENJAMIN ARCTON-TETTEY
MSMEs, Entrepreneurship policy to be revised - Minister of Trade, Agribusiness, Industry - Ghanaian Times
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8 hours ago
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Ghanaian Times