The European Union-funded E-MAGIN project has organised a two-day Progress and Access to Finance workshop in Takoradi for forty selected Micro Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in the e-waste sector in Central and Western Regions of Ghana.

The purpose of the workshop was to connect Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) under the e-waste sector at the Regional level and encourage them to share ideas and reflect on the practical opportunities and challenges under the new legal regime (Act 917, LI 2250 and the Technical Guidelines on Environmentally Sound E-waste Management).

Participating businesses included: the Western Region Scrap Dealers Association, General E-Waste Scrap Dealers Assoc, Tarkwa, National Air-conditioning Refrigeration Workshop Owners Association (NARWOA), and Ghana Electronic Services Technicians Association (GESTA) from Central and Western Regions respectively.

Over the past three years, the EMAGIN project had been supporting the effective implementation of Act 917 by supporting the formalisation of informal stakeholders, establishing a nationwide collection mechanism, conducting training and capacity building programmes, and providing decision support to policymakers through dialogue events, studies, and policy briefs.

Professor Rosemond Boohene, the EMAGIN Project Coordinator and also a Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Cape-Coast stressed the need to incorporate the informal sector into formal e-waste management activities to ensure sound collection, dismantling, and recycling of discarded e-waste.

She explained that some of the discarded e-wastes contained useful and harmful substances and so; "the project seeks to educate and help the MSMEs manage their wastes in an environmentally sound manner".

Prof. Boohene noted that, apart from the Environmental, Health, and Safety issues discussed, the participants were also briefed on how they could manage their businesses very well.

"They have been taken through some business fundamentals including how to market their products and how they could access finances from financial institutions to expand their businesses" she added.

Also, the participants were briefed on the current progress of e-wastes collection centres dotted across the country and how they could obtain a permit to operate a collection center.

Mr Ebenezer Kumi of Adelphi Germany, an International Partner of E-MAGIN indicated that many of the scrap dealers, who dominated the e-waste market were in the informal sector.

He, therefore, stressed the need to bring all e-waste businesses into the formal sector so they could be sensitized to know the dangers associated with burning e-waste and halt the practice.

Mr. Abraham Dsane of the Corporate Department of Cal Bank and in charge of Green financing explained that Green financing was a product to support enterprises whose activities have an impact on the environment.

He added that the Bank was ready to provide support to budding businesses in the green space to ensure sustainability.

The SUNREF in partnership with CalBank had designed a special purpose financing programme to enable Ghana to seize the opportunities of going green.

This innovative programme is part of a worldwide initiative developed by Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) to mobilize public and private banks to finance private sector investments involving green technologies and sustainable energy.

In addition, the EU is supporting the programme by financing the technical assistance component as well as providing an investment grant to eligible projects.

Mr Benjamin Afful-Eshun, Chief Executive Officer of Ahantaman Rural Bank took the participants through how they could access finances from the bank to expand their respective entities which are offering businesses, organisations, and households the opportunity to access finance for sustainable energy projects and assistance in structuring green investments.