The Chief Executive Officer of UT Holdings, Mr Prince Kofi Amoabeng, has said that the nation needs to be innovative to meet the needs of entrepreneurs.
Although Ghana has been blssed with good human resource, Mr Amoabeng noted that the country had not been able to develop entrepreneurs out of it due to certain negative cultures and attitudes that make it unconducive for the success of businesses.
“Seriously, if you are lending to people and you cannot have any data on them, they have no idea of what the cedis or the dollar will be, tariffs are high, government is actually borrowing all the money and so interest rates are high, it is difficult for the financial institution to provide the right financing, the right amount and at the right cost for the entrepreneur to succeed,” he said.
Speaking at the GRAPHIC BUSINESS –Fidelity Bank breakfast meeting in Accra, Mr Amoabeng identified the attitude of some Ghanaian entrepreneurs who borrowed money for their businesses but did not use it for original purposes as one of the challenges of the financial institutions.
“So if you have a country and you don’t have an address system, I don’t see how you can grow, I don’t see how entrepreneurs can take advantage of raw materials resources. There is just no data though it is crucial entrepreneurship and business,” he said.
He said such attitudes run through to the point where financing entrepreneurs became difficult.
However, Mr Amoabeng said doing business was mutual and so before the blame was put on lending and financial institutions, the role of the government in ensuring that people worked on a level playing field and were able to foresee to some degree the future that lay ahead was important.
He said it was important to find innovative ways to solve the needs of entrepreneurs.
Budget on entrepreneurship
A total of 21,797 entrepreneurs, made up of 9,832 males and 11,965 females, were trained in 2014 to enhance their competitiveness.
The National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) provided the training under the Business Development Services (BDS) through 170 Business Advisory Centres (BACs) across the country.
This year, the Rural Enterprises Programme (REP) will complete the establishment of 95 new BACs to provide business development services to SMEs at the district level.
In addition, 30,400 rural poor people will be provided with skills training in community-based income-generating activities, small business management and marketing. Furthermore, 16,500 operators of rural, micro and small enterprises will be given all year round business counselling services.
Fidelity bank on entrepreneurship
The Managing Director of Fidelity Bank, Mr Edward Effah, said it was time to foster local entrepreneurs with deeds and not just words of encouragement.
He said the lack of financial and human capital, inadequate infrastructure, technological difficulties and legal and regulatory bottlenecks were few of the key challenges confronting start-up entrepreneurs in Ghana.
“Also worthy of mention is our general taste for foreign goods and services. Many Ghanaians and local organisations have shown they prefer goods and services rendered by foreign firms to those locally offered. This appetite for the foreign adversely affects entrepreneurship in Ghana,” he said.
He said the bank’s acquisition of ProCredit had put it in the position to harness its demonstrated track record of supporting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana while learning from their wealth of experience.