176 Entrepreneurs attend growth enhancing programme
A training and networking programme to equip owners of small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) with the requisite tools and knowledge on how to address basic challenges that hamper business growth has been organised in Accra.
Dubbed “Enhancing Growth in New Enterprise (ENGINE), Alumni Networking Session, and the programme attracted 176 participants from the 10 regions of Ghana.
Organised by TechnoServe, a non-profit organisation with funding from the Department for International Development (DFID), the programme sought to resource beneficiaries of the ENGINE project with business plans and internal operations.
The Programme Director of Engine, Mr Samuel Baba Adongo, told the Daily Graphic after the programme that the project was to support micro and small enterprises to overcome barriers that hampered the growth of their businesses.
He said the programme was also “to create a thriving community of entrepreneurs through increased access to business development services and finance,' he said.
Essence of the programme
Mr Adongo, who is also the Deputy Country Director of TechnoServe, said “TechnoServe, the implementing agency for the ENGINE project, organised the programme to create direct dialogue among local entrepreneurs in order to link the entrepreneurs to financial institutions.
The dialogue session provided an opportunity to network and initiate the development of a new portfolio in the SMEs sector”, he noted.
Touching on the ENGINE programme, he said the first 100 finalists were selected through the ENGINE Business Plan Competition and Entrepreneurship Development Programme.
He recalled that ENGINE increased the number to 176 by inducting 76 entrepreneurs under the ENGINE Scale Up II Programme at a graduation ceremony in Accra.
Some of the participants, who benefited from the ENGINE project, commended the United Kingdom (UK) government for the funds and other agencies for all the support given to SMEs in the country.
One of them, the founder of Jenel Lotus Foods, Ms Jessica Fafa Teye-Mensah, said apart from the financial support, the programme had also exposed her to a big platform of renowned business executives.