ENGINE inducts 76 entrepreneurs
Enhancing Growth in New Enterprises (ENGINE) has inducted 76 entrepreneurs into the ENGINE alumni network at a graduation ceremony in Accra.
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They were inducted under the ENGINE Scale Up II programme.
This means that the new crop of entrepreneurs have joined a growing network of 100 ENGINE alumni that are already benefitting from essential capital and business development services that drive their businesses.
The inductees were divided into three, with the first group receiving £6,000 as seed capital, with aftercare involving a mix of Business Development Services (BDS) for 12 months.
The winners of the second group category received seed capital of £3,000, with aftercare package and the third category winners were awarded with an aftercare package.
Entrepreneurial support
The Minister of State in Charge of Private Sector Development, Mr Rashid Pelpuo, in his keynote address, lauded ENGINE for the financial support and training it was providing to entrepreneurs in the country.
He noted that the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector was key in the production of goods and services and employment creation in the country.
“That was the reason why my office, from the first week in August, will initiate a programme to train 300 entrepreneurs to enable them to develop their full potential in their field of endeavour,” he said.
Sector contribution
The Programme Director for ENGINE, Mr Samuel Baba Adongo, however, appealed to the government to establish a fund that would serve as the backbone of the SME sector and also support the youth financially to begin their own businesses in order to reduce unemployment.
He said this was necessary because globally the SME sector contributed significantly to the growth of many developing countries, including Ghana.
“In Ghana, the SME sector provides 85 per cent of manufacturing jobs and contributes 49 per cent to overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” the programme director added.
He said despite this revelation, research identified low degrees of innovation and access to finance as key obstacles limiting the growth and expansion of the sector in Ghana.
