Distressed companies to benefit from GH¢220m rescue package

The government, through its National Industrial Revitalisation Programme (NIVP) has provided GH₵220 million to revive distressed but viable local companies across the country.

The programme, which will be spearheaded by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) will provide technical and financial support to existing companies that are currently distressed or are facing operational challenges, but are deemed to be viable.

The programme is expected to help put the companies back into operation in the shortest time possible.

This was disclosed by the Minister for Business Development, Mr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, when he visited the Horizons Offices in Accra.

He said the Ministry of Trade and Industry had put in place a rigorous procedure that would help identify these companies and bring them back on their feet.

“We need to revive them so they can go back to profitability. Some laid off lots of workers due to their inability to operate at full capacity so we have to revive and get them to employ lots of people not only those who went home but new ones as well,” he stated.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation plan

The minister also pointed out that the government was currently in the process of launching a National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan (NEIP).

He said the plan would be implemented to assist businesses secure markets during their critical formative years, and tap into a wide supply chain and network during their growth years.

Under the NEIP, he said the ministry would also be training 1,000 graduates who would go round and educate Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) owners on how to improve their business plans, skills, auditing and accounting.

“Some of our SME owners don’t know simple accounting principles and how to keep books so these graduates who will be engaged will go round to train theses SME owners on how to grow their businesses and how to access funding for their businesses.

Horizons offices

Horizons Offices is a Pan-African serviced office provider which was established in Kenya in 2009 and currently has five business centres in three African business hubs which are Nairobi, Lagos and Accra.

Located on the eighth floor of the Airport Square building at the Airport City in Accra, the Horizon complex houses over 50 offices that will make doing business in Ghana easy and convenient for small and large scale businesses.

Facilities in the building include serviced offices and business support centres for start-ups, a customer experience center, coffee shop, meeting rooms, a multipurpose hall and spacious business lounges.

The Managing Director of the Horizons Offices, Mr Ian Kabiru, in a speech that was read on his behalf, said the aim of the group was to enable African businessmen to exploit and benefit from the opportunities that were existing in Africa.

This he said, it aimed to do by building a seamless network of offices, connectivity and people across the continent.

“We are proud to be associated with the upcoming Kenya Trade Expo Ghana 2017. The Trade Expo is a fantastic avenue to showcase many of the trade possibilities between the two countries,” he stated.

“Kenyans are looking to do business in Ghana, will find a ‘business home’ here with Horizons as will Ghanaians looking to set up in Kenya,” he added.

Intra-Africa trade

The Founder of the Kenya Trade Expo in Ghana, Mrs Leah Nduati Lee, also called for the need for Africa to unite through trade and investments.

“Coming from the land where milk is plentiful, it baffles me why I have to grab a box of milk at the supermarket and red that it came all the way from Europe,” she noted.

“Ghana is among the top three cocoa producing countries in the World, yet the household chocolates and cocoa brands in Kenya are European. Kenya is among the top five Tea producing countries globally, yet in Ghana actual Kenyan Tea is hard to come by. Why would something seemingly obvious as trading within ourselves be so difficult to achieve?” she asked.

She said Africa had integrated with Europe and the rest of the World faster than it has integrated with itself.

Mrs Nduati also pointed out that it was against this background that it started the Kenya Trade Expo in Ghana which brings the players in the private sectors of both countries to interact with themselves and explore the business opportunities that existed.

She said the second expo would come off November this year in Accra.­