Five Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the Western Region have qualified for the SNV Boosting Green Employments and Opportunities in Ghana (GrEEn) Incubation Programme Cohort 4.
The SMEs are: Lanto’s Creative Concept, E-Powers, Dukez Fashion, Davidtron Engineering Services and Yonell Ventures
For the next six months they will be supported by Duapa Werkspace, an Incubation Hub in Takoradi, to learn how to keep proper records; support them to get access to funding and market, as well as develop pitching skills among others.
Finance Manager of Duapa Werkspace, Richmond Andoh, speaking at the launch of Cohort 4 Incubation Programme on the theme ‘Creating Wealth from Waste’ mentioned that 14 SMEs have so far benefitted from the SNV GrEEn Incubation Programme under Cohort 3.
“Duapa Werkspace joined the SNV GrEEn incubation project in 2020, and through that we have had Cohort 1 with four SMEs, Cohort 2 also with six SMEs and then Cohort 3 with four SMEs which are currently undergoing incubation, and now Cohort 4,” he noted.
He explained that the GrEEn Incubation Project is funded by the European Union and executed by SNV together with some selected Hubs in the Western and Ashanti Region for a four-year period.
The project, he said, is aimed at training SMEs in the Agric Sector, Renewable Energy, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).
“With this project, nothing goes waste. For example, under agriculture if you are in the poultry farming business we look at the processes – whereby you can do your business in such a way that nothing goes unused and also does not destroy the environment.
“When the application was opened over 500 registered, but few fell in the category that we were looking for and they were male SMEs. We needed women; so we put in the second application, had a review and selected some people, put them in a bootcamp and then five of them qualified. So, we have two females and three males for Cohort 4,” Mr. Andoh said.
Erasmus Ackon, Chief Executive Officer of Duapa Werkspace, encouraged the SMEs to ensure proper book-keeping and then find time for their business development.
“We can help build your business, and we encourage owners of businesses to assign responsibilities to employees rather than doing everything themselves,” he added.
Energy Expert Kwame Asare Yeboah encouraged SMEs to maximise the opportunities given them to maintain and expand their businesses.
