GHANA’S MSMEs RECEIVE €75 MILLION SUPPORT FROM FRANCE

By Maxwell Nkansah [caption id="attachment_91591" align="alignnone" width="597"] Anne-Sophie Avé – Ambassador of France to Ghana.[/caption] According to the Ambassador of France to Ghana, Anne-Sophie Avé, Ghana has been allocated €75 million as investment to support our Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The €3.5 billion investment or “Choose Africa Initiative,” which aims at offering a range of assistance and financing for the creation, development and growth of MSMEs in African countries is the source of this Investment. The initiative will support the structuring of projects to contribute to sustainable development in the area of education, health, manufacturing, agribusiness, and financial technology in the country. According to the French Ambassador to Ghana, Anne-Sophie Avé, the support would exclude the extractive sector. These include the mining, oil and gas industries in line with her country’s green energy policy. She also stated that more money can be invested into the economy if Ghana is able to come up with more well-pitched clear business plans. When inquired about France’s Investment destination choice, she explained that, “aside Ghana being a safe, peaceful and democratic country, she inhabits a lot of entrepreneurs and young dynamic people with good ideas and solidarity for loans from family and friends to get them started. “There are MSMEs that are already existing with experience and have products being tested in the market with many opportunities for investment. It’s a basic logic, France invests where investment is really safe and profitable. Ghana was endowed with economic prospects due to its many MSMEs coupled with good skills and competencies, and that France “wants to ensure that Ghanaian companies are able to go the extra mile to create jobs, wealth, add value.” She said this at the event organized by the French Embassy, Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC) and Innohub, a business incubator that helps small and growing businesses to become sustainable. She also stated that France would have returns on its investments from supporting with loans or technical assistance, persons and companies who have wonderful ideas and can be groomed into a national or international brand. She again stated that the Initiative seeks to run for five to ten years and would therefore would do its due diligence, look at expertise and other specialties in the selection process. France is particularly interested in. The Chief Executive Officer of GIPC, Yofi Grant, stated that, “the government is very committed to developing the MSME sector and clearly understands that it’s the largest business sector of the economy, therefore, attention needs to be paid to the sector if we seek to improve and grow. At GIPC, we are doing a lot to support MSMEs through programs such as our Young Entrepreneurs Forum, Business Continuity and our various trade missions,” he added.