Members of the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI)-Tema, were on Monday sensitized on the application requirements of the COVID-19 Response Grant (CRG) to enable them successfully access it.

Mr Isaac Youssef Barry, GNCCI Tema Regional Chairman, said it had to organize an emergency Bi-Monthly Business Meeting to educated members on the Grant as it came to their notice that those who applied were unable to sail through due to some technical issues.

Mr Barry said the sensitization would help the members to input their applications properly before the July 21, 2021 deadline.

He, therefore, urged members to take advantage and push for their businesses.

Mr Samuel Agbaga, Grant Manager for the Ghana Economic Transformation (GET) Project under the Ghana Enterprises Agency, in a presentation said the COVID-19 Response Grant formed part of the GET Project initiative from the World Bank.

It was to help businesses that had been negatively impacted by COVID-19 as well as those who had been resilient during the pandemic.

Mr Agbaga said the application for the grant which was opened on June 21, 2021, was expected to end on July 21, 2021, and therefore urged eligible businesses to apply for the grant which has been pegged at a maximum of USD 20,000.

He said to qualify, a firm must fall under the small or medium enterprises, defining small enterprises as "those firms either employing between 6-30 and/or making sales between GHC150,000.00 and six million".

The medium enterprises were, "firms either employing between 31-100 and /or sales of more than six million Ghana cedis and up to 18 million Ghana cedis.

He added that for any firm to be eligible, it must qualify either through the size of the employees or its sales or turnover.

He stated that firms dealing in agro-processing, manufacturing, textiles and garments, pharmaceutical companies in the production of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), food and beverages.

He added that hotels, restaurants, and cafes do not fall under the food and beverages according to the CRG classifications.

According to him, beneficiaries were expected to spend the grant within two months after signing the grant agreement.

He said the team would review all expenditures related to it to ensure conformity with the agreement.

Touching on the eligibility criteria for the COVID-19 grant, he mentioned that the firm must have the business registration certificate or certificate of incorporation, a tax identification number for the company and shareholders, identification documents, financial statements, or statements of affairs for 2019 and 2020, business bank statement.

Mr Agbaga indicated that businesses which commenced operations in or after March 2020 were not eligible and should therefore not apply.

He urged eligible firms to fill the application form on the website, https://gea.gov.gh/getp with the needed attached documents, after which pre-determined assessment criteria jointly established by a local team of experts and a team from the World Bank Group.