Access Bank (Ghana) PLC, in partnership with Deloitte Ghana, has held a capacity workshop for about 300 small and medium enterprises in Tema aimed at empowering them with knowledge to grow their businesses.
The workshop was on the theme: “SME Financial Empowerment: An Imperative Resilience”.
Mr Pascal Akanlu, the Zonal Head, Business Banking Northern Zone at Access Bank, said even though SMEs always complained of finance being their major challenge, the bank realised that some also lacked some important aspects of business requirements to grow.
Mr Akanlu said SMEs played important roles in the development of every economy as major employers contributors to economic development.
However, he said, SMEs were faced with many challenges hence the initiative with Deloitte to train and build their capacities as well as give them the platform to relate and provide the needed funds for business expansion.
“It’s not only about giving them money; we know that their major problem they cite is money, but we need to build their capacity to some level before we can give them some money to utilise and make profit to be able to pay back,” he added.
He noted that among the issues was guiding them to register their companies, run the business professionally, proper bookkeeping, accounting processes and the use of digital tools.
Ms Margaret Ansei, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), noted that SMEs formed about 90 per cent of Ghana’s businesses and were the backbone of the country’s economy.
Ms Ansei added that the theme for the session was important, as financial empowerment was not just about access to money but also about building capacities for SMEs to manage their finances effectively, make informed decisions and position themselves thoroughly and grow even in the face of economic downturns.
“The last few years have shown us just how quickly conditions can change from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to global supply chain disruptions and rising operational costs. Businesses, particularly small ones, had to adapt rapidly or risk closure,” she said.
She said that in this environment, resilience was no longer an option, stressing that financial empowerment was pivotal to excelling in businesses.
Mr Gilbert Yirenkyi Addo, Associate Director, Business Tax at Deloitte, leading a team to educate participants on record keeping and inventory, said the programme would equip the SMEs to keep appropriate records that would enable them to have efficient business processes in place.
Mr Addo stated that it was important to keep records because it was a regulatory requirement for the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Companies Act, among others.