MTN invests GH¢1m to promote SMEs

 The  MTN has invested more than GH¢1million this year to promote Small and Medium Entreprises (SMEs) through its support programme aimed to boost the needed inno­vation and expansion.

Speaking at an MTN support programme for SMEs in the Volta Region in Ho on Tuesday, the Chief Corporate Services and Sustainability Officer (CCS­SO) of MTN, Ms Adwoa Wi­afe, announced that out of 150 businesses selected from the Volta, Central, Eastern and the Greater Accra Regions, the Volta Region alone had 52 SMEs which would be supported.

Ms Wiafe explained that the 52 business selected from the Volta Region included 13 youths, 20 women and 19 differently abled Entreprises, and would be given a seed capital ranging from GH¢10, 000 to GH¢20,000 to boost their activities.

She said available statistics from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) showed that SMEs account­ed for about 70 per cent of the county’s industrial sector output, therefore MTN in collaboration with Innohub Foundation decided to invest in these businesses, which were crucial to the rapid national economic growth.

She further noted that the programme since its inception in 2022, had supported 140 business­es in Ashanti, Greater Accra, and the Western Regions.

According to her, the benefi­ciaries would trained in such areas as book keeping, cost and pricing, branding, sales and marketing, financial literacy, digital marketing and customer services, among oth­ers, which he stressed was tailored to meet the specific needs of the beneficiaries.

Moreover, Ms Wiafe therefore urged the beneficiaries to work hard to make their businesses to thrive by providing quality services as well as adhere to clean environ­mental practices, adding that many of the SMEs were providing food to the public, hence the need to promote healthy food preparation.

The Executive Director of Innohub Foundation, Mr King Da­vid, said he was satisfied with the collaboration between his outfit and MTN for the impact driven initiative aimed at empowering SMEs across the country, saying the collaboration showed their shared commitment to fostering entrepreneurship and enabling SMEs to thrive, creat jobs, and build sustainable future.

He said since the implemen­tation of the programme a year ago, 100 entrepreneurs were trained in target business support and mentorship, through direct funding from MTN, exceeding GH¢1,000,000 and businesses were given critical boost needed for innovation and expansions.

The Executive Director of Innohub added that the im­proved businesses reported from first year of the programme had an improved revenue from GH¢7,631, 441.00 in 2022 to GH¢11,514, 543.00 in 2023, which indicated that business operators grown their businesses from 631 to 722, and were able to raise more funding than before, increasing from GH¢294.70 in 2022 to GH¢359,069.30 in 2023.

 FROM SAMUEL AGBEWODE, HO