(SMEs) who participated in the project. The tour was to link the SMEs to the market and prospects in the Western Region.

The three-day tour is expected to also expose the participating SMEs, in Agriculture and the WASH sector, to procurement practices in the institutions to be visited and how best they could win contracts.

The first day of the tour, saw the group visiting the Ghana Water Company intake points at Inchaban, Roland Rice, God is Love Chop Bar and West Agric Farm.

MsAlberta Brown-Orleans, General Manager of Duapa Werkspace, said the move was to create a direct market linkage between GrEEn SMEs and well-established companies.

At the Roland Rice factory, Mr Roland Jesse Prah, Chief Executive Officer of Roland Rice, encouraged the SMEs not to rush but to take their time to build their businesses for posterity..." don't kowtow to family and societal pressure, invest the small returns in your business for growth," he said.

He also urged them not to lose hope under the current economic difficulties but put in place strategies that would ensure that they rose above the storm and prevailed

Mr Prah mentioned one key area affecting SMEs as supply gaps due to limited machinery and called for resourcing of such SMEs through governmental and other partnerships to meet the demand and supply gaps

He also urged the SMEs to have clever work ethics and deliver clients' requests on time to win the trust and confidence needed for business growth