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Let’s position our SMEs to take advantage of AfCFTA— Edward Gomado
A Partner at PwC, Mr Edward Gomado, has urged the government to help position the country’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
Mr Gomado who is also Director, Private Company Services Leader for West Africa Region of PwC said the agreement did not only present an opportunity for Ghanaian companies to export to other countries, but also for companies in other African countries to also export here as well, and it was, therefore, critical for the government to support the country’s SMEs to make the most out of the agreement.
Mr Gomado was speaking at the GRAPHIC BUSINESS/ Stanbic Bank Breakfast Meeting which took place at the Labadi Beach Hotel on August 6. The forum was on the theme’, Building a national equity fund to support SMEs’.
“While we are looking to take advantage of the AfCFTA, companies in other countries are also looking to come in. How ready are we to equip our companies to be able to reach out there and compete?
“If we are talking about competition, how much does it cost a Ghanaian company to produce quality products and how competitive will the company be in terms of pricing if it decides to export? As a country, we need to do an analysis to find out what the major costs are for SMEs and how we can support them,” he noted.
“If we want to be competitive as a country and we believe that the cost of power is significant to our SMEs, we should know that if we are able to help them reduce that cost, their overall cost of production reduces and they will be able to compete effectively against other companies from outside,” he added.
Strong case for SMEs
He said the SME sector had made a strong case for itself and was ,therefore, time for the sector to receive the necessary attention.
It is believed that about 92 per cent of businesses in Ghana are in the SME sector and they contribute about 70 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), while employing over 85 per cent people in the manufacturing sector.
Mr Gomado said this was a clear indication that any support to SMEs would be a major boost to the GDP of the country.
Using ride hailing app, Uber as an example, he said the company, which was formed 10 years ago, now boasted of total revenue of GH₵59 billion, which was comparable to the total amount of money the entire government of Ghana intended to spend in 2019.
“If one company is generating enough revenue which is equal to the amount of money we want to spend as a country, imagine if we had that company in Ghana, what it would have done to the economy,” he stated.