PEF requests training in technical competencies

 The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Private Enterprise Foundation (PEF), Nana Osei Bonsu, has stated the need for the training of people in technical competencies instead of relying on trained entrepreneurs.

“The mistake we do is that we want trained entrepreneurs instead of teaching competencies,” he said.

Nana Bonsu, who was one of the four speakers at the first edition of the Graphic Business/Stanbic Bank Business Breakfast Meeting series for this year, noted that although the private sector in Ghana was responsible for the creation of 93 per cent of the businesses in the country, while the public sector constituted about 6.2 per cent, it was faced with a myriad of challenges.

“Nobody goes into business to create jobs. We go into business to make money, and by making money the business grows and when it grows, we need additional hands and we create jobs.

“The private sector is mainly micro, mini and small enterprises. We lack capacities, we lack skills sets, and we lack the technical know-how to be able to grow a business, so as a consequence we don’t do much. But we are the engine that creates the jobs,” he said.

Unemployment

Against that backdrop he indicated that each year 71,000 graduates passed out of the universities looking for jobs and that in the next five years a total of about 400,000 jobs will be needed.

Nana Bonsu said the private sector required a favourable environment to grow which was very critical for the government to provide to ensure that the private sector thrived through the creation of the right policy framework.

Challenges

The PEF CEO listed some of the daunting challenges of the private sector as high inflation and exchange rate gyrations, the frequent changes in tax policy, the multiplicity of nuisance taxes and levies on private businesses.

Others are the absence of adequate irrigation and storage infrastructure which resulted in between 33 per cent and 35 per cent post-harvest losses in agriculture.

Nana Bonsu said there was no viable warehouse receipt system to address post-harvest losses but that was needed as a tool to aggregate supplies, create additional markets for commodities produced and for protection against price volatility and as leverage for financing.   

He also stated that the challenges in the energy sector also affected job stability, citing that 13,000 jobs were lost due to the energy situation last year, according to figures from the Ghana Employers Association.

Recommendations

Nana Bonsu called for the promotion of a green economy in agriculture to deal with the energy challenges which was currently composed of 56.2 per cent for thermal energy, 43.2 per cent for hydroelectricity and only 0.6 per cent for renewable energy.

He said there was also the need for a dialogue on sustainable development to ensure sound and stable macroeconomic policies and good management of the economy.

He also called for good political and economic governance, as poor governance, corruption and inefficient institutions can discourage entrepreneurship and hold back private sector growth.

Nana Bonsu asked the government to avoid the frequent changing of policies and regulations without adequate consultations with the private sector.

Writer’s email: Edmund.asante@graphic.com.gh