A delegation from Nigeria's Bank of Industry has paid a courtesy call on the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Enterprises Agency, Mrs. Kosi Yankey-Ayeh.

The visit is to commend her on the great work the Agency is undertaking to build Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Ghana and to also share ideas on how to enhance and expand operations of MSMEs in both Ghana and Nigeria take advantage of African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

The delegation in discussions with the Chief Executive Officer, congratulated her on the hard work done in transforming the institution from National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) to Ghana Enterprises Agency.

The Senior Analyst – Internal Operations, Growth and Partnerships Micro Enterprises, Nwosu Nnaemeka, speaking on the activities of the Bank mentioned that, the Bank of Industry is a development finance institution with a focus on providing loan credit facilities for industrial development for Nigerian companies.

The Bank is wholly owned by the Federal Government of Nigeria. The Bank's mandate is to transform Nigeria's industrial sector by providing financial and advisory support for the establishment of large, medium and small projects/enterprises and the expansion, diversification, rehabilitation and modernization of existing enterprises.

Target sub-sectors include Agro-processing, Solid Minerals, Information Technology, Oil and Gas and Creative Industry.

As a bank, it funds the equipment needs of businesses in the production or manufacturing sector.

The visit to Ghana and specifically GEA was to build relationships, learn how the Coronavirus Alleviation Program Business Support Scheme (CAP BuSS) and other products were implemented and also find synergies for partnerships.

The Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA) is the apex governmental body dedicated to the promotion and development of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Sector in Ghana. The Agency is mandated to coordinate, implement and monitor the activities of the MSME Sector with special attention to women entrepreneur in Ghana.

GEA has the largest footprint of any agency or organization in Ghana in its work with entrepreneurs and women led MSME development. It has presence in the 16 Regions and operates in 190 Business Advisory Centres (BAC) and 37 Business Resource Centres (BRCs) across Ghana.

Over the last four years, the focus has been to transition the institution to become the pivot to support and cushion MSME development. Due to this, the Ministry of Trade and Industry had developed the first ever MSME Policy to drive development in the sector to ensure that better programmes and policies were designed to support them," said Mrs. Kosi Yankey Ayeh.

Mrs. Kosi Yankey Ayeh mentioned that over the last four years the Agency had been able to provide support to over 700,000 businesses and offered over 800 million cedis credit and grant facilities to MSMEs through projects and programs such as the Coronavirus Alleviation Program Business Support Scheme (CAPBuSS), Mastercard Foundation COVID-19 Resilience and Recovery Program (Nkosuo Program), Mastercard Foundation Young Africa Works, SME Innovation and Digitalisation Support Scheme among others.

Possible future Collaborations

Both institutions discussed areas of interest and potential partnership that would be of great benefit if they leverage on AfCFTA to strengthen bilateral trade among the two countries. A plan was devised to create a link between MSMEs in both countries to learn from each other or collaborate, through an intra-African trade show.