The Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA) has organised a sensitisation workshop to drum home the importance of buying a pension plan as a Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME). According to the GEA, interaction with MSMEs who constitute its core stakeholders has revealed that pensions are far from their agenda – and as a result many of them struggle to make ends meet in their old age.
As a result, the GEA partnered a private pension provider, Ghana Axis Pension Trust, to educate owners of some 300 micro-, small- and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs) on the need for a sustainable retirement plan.
The initiative forms part of activities undertaken to mark the United Nations (UN) sanctioned World MSMEs Day, which was held under the theme ‘Key to Inclusive and Sustainable Recovery’.
The UN has set aside June 27 of every year to celebrate the role of MSMEs in sustainable development and the global economy.
Both the formal and informal MSMEs sectors are globally known to make up over 90 percent of all firms, while averagely accounting for about 70 percent of total employment and 50 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Speaking to some 100 participants at the opening of a pension and retirement masterclass in Accra, Chief Executive Officer of GEA, Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, said planning for uncertainty should be crucial for every entrepreneur that thinks of business sustainability; hence the need for pension planning.
She reiterated the GEA’s commitment to support MSMEs, which she described as the backbone of the Ghanaian economy.
The provision of relevant support, she however said, hinges on transformation of the GEA.
She encouraged MSMEs to incorporate technology into their operations, which has become crucial for business growth and survival.
“If as an institution we don’t evolve and become better to support the work that you do, to formulate a new act to assist in the work that you do, then as a nation we are not moving forward,” she said.
General Manager of Axis Pension Trust, Paa Kofi Ankomah, in an interview raised concern over the low patronage of MSMEs.
He attributed this to insufficient education on the need for businesses – especially those within the informal sector – to have pension and succession plans in order to guarantee a correct rate of sustainability.
