The MSME Digital Skills Training project seeks to train and build capacity in digital techniques of the young entrepreneurs to improve their performance in their fields of endeavour and be ready for the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) opportunities.

The first phase of the MSME Digital Skills Training project has since last week, trained 92 participants with over half being women with the rest to be done in subsequent phases.

It is being organised in partnership with Expertise France and is expected to support participants to integrate and apply knowledge gained from the training on their businesses.

Project launch

At the launch of the initiative in Accra on April 29, the President of the GNCCI, Clement Osei-Amoako, said the training was expected to equip young entrepreneurs with the needed skill to take advantage of the AfCFTA.

“Last week, the first phase of the MSME Digital Skills Training project was held in Accra comprising 92 participants with over half being women.

“Generally, participants were excited about the opportunity to develop their digital skills and resolved to follow through the requirements to ensure business growth and resilience post-COVID-19,” he said.

Mr Osei-Amoako also noted that: “As part of the project, the Chamber will be organising similar workshops in the remaining seven cities across the country, including Cape Coast, Takoradi, Ho, Kumasi, Koforidua, Sunyani, and Tamale in the coming weeks,” he said.

Expressing appreciation to Expertise France, the president said the chamber found the collaboration more compelling because technology continued to be a dominant force in driving economic growth.

He said that required conscious efforts to build their human resources with the requisite skills to drive digital transformation and growth of businesses.

Financial options

A Consultant to the Project, Tsonam Cleanse Akpeloo, said the training would enable participants to understand financial options and opportunities for business growth and expansion.

He said the project targeted 50 per cent of participants to be women, who would be introduced to digital transformation, and coached to develop digital transformation plans for their businesses.

He said it was expected that businesses would understand, identify and leverage digital platforms that would enable them to affirm credibility, enhance visibility and process transactions.

He added that the training would enable the MSMEs to take advantage of the opportunities available to participate in the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement.

Skills and digital content

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Expertise France, Jérémie Pellet, said the programme to be implemented would result in the development of skills and digital content among MSMEs.

He said the programme launch was timely and would yield important results for Ghana’s private sector resilience as more than 800 participants were expected to be trained.

Mr Pellet said companies, that participated would also be able to enrol in the digital platforms after the training, enhance their online visibility, boost their credibility and facilitate cross-border transactions.

He said post workshop mentorship and coaching support would also be provided to ensure a better ownership of trained participants.

Mr Pellet said the chamber was one of their partners as they implemented the African Caribbean and Pacific- European Union Programme of Digital Response of the COVID-19 crisis.