Accra, Ghana, March 5, 2019//-Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operating in Ghana are yet to take the advantage of Information Communication Technology (ICT) to improve their bottom lines.
Reasons
One of the reasons experts ascribed to this is the high appetite for using the traditional tools to achieve growth and development at the time when ICT tools for SMEs are in abundance.
An expert in business development, Acquah Paul added that some SMEs are not implementing ICT tools due to limited funds, lack of knowledge, lack of skilled staff, ignorance about the existence of ICT tools, and low investments.
Some SME operators who spoke to African Eye Report confirmed that they are using low ICT tools because of the above-mentioned challenges.
Ms Akorfa Cudjoe, a fashion designer with over 10 employees, said: “The only ICT tools we use for our business are mobile phones and mobile money to enable us transact business with our customers”.
Although she knows about the existence of other ICT tools including computers, laptops and broadband services, Ms Cudjoe said they were expensive for her to acquire.
For Kwesi Yeboah who owns mobile phone and mobile phone accessory shops at different locations in the Accra metropolis admitted that their rate of using ICT tools was not impressive.
“We are selling ICT hardwares but we are yet to connect our shops to the internet service”.
When asked why he is yet to connect to the internet service, Mr Yeboah said: “I don’t want to employ three IT experts to man the service. Lastly, the market is too slow”.
Strategies to improve SMEs’ adoption of ICT
One of the most effective strategies to improve chances of success for SMEs in Ghana is to modernize their businesses by adopting ICT tools.
A recent study conducted by the Boston Consulting Group found that tech-savvy SMEs grow their revenues 15 per cent faster than those using less advanced technology.
It further found that they grew jobs nearly twice as fast as those SMEs that have not embraced modernisation technologies.
The modernisation of SMEs should not be a gradual process as the opportunity exists to migrate SMEs directly from no or very limited use of technology, to embracing the next wave of technology to profitably exploit the benefits immediately, the Microsoft Country Manager for Ghana, Derek Appiah said.
“Those entrepreneurs who are ready to employ new media, technologies and strategies that will help the success of their businesses will benefit almost immediately with modernization”. Opportunities abound for SME entrepreneurs to embrace new technologies, and added bundled offers that go with it to make it easier to be online, connected and changing world, according to him.
ICT solutions for SMEs
SMEs in Ghana and any part of the world that adopt ICT grow faster and efficient than their counterparts which are holding back.
Through the use of ICT, from the tried-and-trusted creation of a web presence, to social media platforms, and the more recent trend of building a chatbot– a computer programme or an artificial intelligence which conducts a conversation via auditory or textual methods, SME operators can use these tools to spur growth.
Jacob Kwaku Gyan, Chief Executive Officer of Adroit 360, a Ghanaian software development and website designing SME , said: “One of the major impacts in the business ecosystem in this recent time is ICT. The digital frenzy has impacted every aspect of business to which SMEs are no exception”.
“So, there are some people who are selling food products, shoes, phones, clothes among others online. So, any SME, any business who is not leveraging on digital tools, on having a strong brand presence online, using social media optimisation, search engine optimisation, customer applications that could build customer loyalty and ensuring business efficiency will definitely not going to be productive”, Mr Gyan told African Eye Report at his Dansoman-based office in Accra.
The development of these skill-sets and applying them to businesses have become more prominent than before, he stated.
He encouraged SME operators to use digital tools such emails to check-up and wish their customers and other stakeholders happy birthdays. This Mr Gyan said would go a long way to build brand loyalty.
Sam Addo- General Manager – MTN Business, noted that many SME organisations graduate to become influential corporate businesses employing hundreds and contributing to the growth of the Ghanaian economy.
“MTN Business takes great satisfaction in assisting its SME customers and watching them expand and grow to eventually become multi-national corporate organisations. Our custom solutions are specifically designed to help SMEs along their path to success”.
We provide a wide range of products and services tailored to provide SME entrepreneurs with connectivity solutions, according to him.
What government is doing to support SMEs
Ghana’s National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI), a non-profit public sector organisation under the Ministry of Trade & Industry has trained over 1,000 SMEs across the country on ICT.
The Executive Director of the NBSSI, Ms. Kosi Yankey explained that the support worth thousands of Ghana cedis would boost the SMEs’ capacity in the area of ICT to enable them scale up, create employment, among others.
The table below shows some of the beneficiaries.
39 ICT TRAINING WORKSHOPS FOR WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
| NO | REGION | DISTRICT | NO.OF WOMEN TRAINED |
| 1 | UPPER EAST REGION | BOLGATANGA | 119 |
| 2 | UPPER WEST REGION | WA | 113 |
| 3 | NORTHERN REGION | TAMALE | 118 |
| 4 | BRONG AHAFO REGION | TECHIMAN | 59 |
| 5 | BRONG AHAFO REGION | SUNYANI EAST | 60 |
| 6 | ASHANTI REGION | KUMASI | 120 |
| 7 | EASTERN REGION | NEW JUABEN | 120 |
| 8 | VOLTA REGION | HO MUNICIPAL | 120 |
| 9 | WESTERN REGION | STMA | 90 |
| 10 | WESTERN REGION | SEFWI WIAWSO | 30 |
| 11 | GREATER ACCRA | TEMA | 59 |
| 12 | CENTRAL REGION | CAPE COAST | 40 |
| 13 | GREATER ACCRA | ACCRA | 58 |
| 14 | GREATER ACCRA | ADENTA | 30 |
| 15 | GREATER ACCRA | GA SOUTH | 30 |
| TOTAL | 1166 |
Source: NBSSI
New market opportunities
The internet penetration in Ghana keeps growing. The 2018 data released by global digital agencies-We Are Social and Hootsuite, revealed that over 10 million Ghanaians were using the internet. The figure represented 35% of the country’s 30 million people up by two million in January 2017.
This means that Ghanaians are using the internet always to find out what is happening in and around the world. “So, if you are operating any kind of business, you should find a way to be represented on the internet”, Ms Abena Yeboah, a digital marketer explained.
“For instance if you have an office on Accra high street, you can only be located on the Accra high street but people can be in Bawku in the Upper East Region and do business with you over the internet. So, it is important to have a branch on the internet. That is why businesses especially SMEs should have websites”, she emphasised.
“Websites shouldn’t just be informational. It should capture what you do in its entirety.
From my point of view, if you sell shoes, you should be able to sell them online. So, somebody in Bantama, a suburb of Kumasi in the Ashanti Region should be able to buy your shoes from you in East Legon, a suburb in Accra”.
Luckily, with the development of payment gateway, there is now mobile interoperability. People can buy products and services using mobile money, bank transfers, and other payment channels. So, these tools have come for the businesses of SMEs and large companies.
Aside the over 10 million Ghanaians who are online every day, most of them are also on social media including Facebook who are potential customers for the SME operators in the West African country.
Ghana currently has 5.6 million active social media users, 19.53 million mobile users and 4.90 active social media users – an increase of 22% (one million) on the January 2017 figure, according to the ‘Digital in 2018’ report. So, SMEs can also make money from the social media platforms.
For instance, “if you are selling used car tyres most of your friends and contacts who are on social media platforms use cars. So, take the advantage to market your tyres to them and they may end up buying from you. So, social media shouldn’t be a place for only conversation. It can be a place for serious business conversation, Ms Yeboah stressed.
Why the SME sector is important
The SME sector, according to development economists is widely seen as the growth engine for internally driven economic transformation.
With strong GDP growth and competition among multiple mobile-cellular providers which has spurred growth with a subscribership of more than 130 percent in the country.
Considering that 71.4 percent of the country’s total workforce, according to the latest edition of the Integrated Business Establishment Survey (IBES II) by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) are employed by the SME sector. While the large-sized establishments employ only 16.6 percent.
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, African Eye Report
Email: mk68008@gmail.com
