By Mohammed Awal
THE lack of access to finance and the ever-increasing operational costs are rendering the Ghanaian entrepreneur “uncompetitive,” –the President of Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), James Asare-Adjei has said.
Therefore, to ensure that the Ghanaian business man is always rendered competitive, the AGI plans to establish the ‘AGI Industrial Development Bank’ soon hinted Mr. Asare-Adjei.
The Bank he said hasn’t started yet but he was confident it would be rolled out soon to salvage its members from the unbearable difficulties they had to contend with in seeking for credits from the commercial banks.
He was speaking at the official media launch of ‘Our Story, Your Story’ organized by Strategic Communication Africa –Stratcomm.
According to Mr. Asare-Adjei, research conducted by the AGI shockingly revealed that close to 80% of the credits commercial banks offer entrepreneurs in Ghana are based on short term basis saying what was needed was “medium to long term financing for would be and already existing entrepreneurs not credits that doesn’t go beyond 12 months.
To him, this current arrangement is heavily interrupting with the smooth operations of the AGI’s member hence the associations’ vision to set up a bank that would liberate its members.
Risk of technological obscurity
Due to “lack of access to finance and the ever-increasing operational costs,” many businesses had to contend with the risk of “technological obscurity,” as they were unable to adopt newer technologies at a rapid rate because of huge costs of acquisition of these technologies.
Think big
Notwithstanding the acute challenges, “I will encourage you to keep thinking big and be confident in yourselves,” he admonished adding “set clear priorities, so you know what you have to do to move your vision and business forward.”
On her part, Ms Esther A.N Cobbah, Executive Officer of Stratcomm Africa said experienced the world over taught that “creativity and determination” of entrepreneurs are critical for bringing about improvements to the livelihood of the whole society.
“We must, therefore, aim to be a country in which entrepreneurship is respected and emulated. Deepening the culture of enterprise in Ghana is the surest way of heading towards the upper middle income status that we aspire to as a nation,” she urged.
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African Eye News
