Micro, small and medium size enterprises are Ghana’s economic backbone – Dr Alhassan Iddrisu

Government Statistician Dr Alhassan Idrisu has underscored the importance of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to Ghana’s economic development, describing them as the largest segment of businesses in the country.

“They contribute significantly to employment, income generation and economic activities across the country,” he said.

He made the remarks at the closing session of a training programme for field officers tasked with collecting data on MSMEs across the country.

The study, jointly organised by Development Bank Ghana and the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), seeks to generate empirical data on the performance of MSMEs to support their growth and strengthen their contribution to Ghana’s productive sectors.

The findings are also expected to help the government and other stakeholders develop targeted policies and regulations to address the needs of the sector.

“Effective support for these enterprises requires reliable and timely evidence on how they are performing, the opportunities available to them and the challenges they face daily,” Dr Idrisu emphasised.

His remarks were delivered by Deputy Government Statistician Seidu Omar, who described the role of field officers as indispensable to the success of the exercise.

“Over the past few days, you have strengthened your understanding of the questionnaires, the concepts underpinning the performance indexes and the digital tools that support the data collection process,” he stated.

Mr Omar urged the enumerators to follow the questionnaires carefully, seek clarification where necessary and record responses accurately without influencing respondents’ answers.

He also encouraged them to establish good rapport with respondents to make them comfortable enough to provide honest information.

“Technology has made it possible to monitor data from the field but the supervisors cannot replace the careful entries of the field officers” adding that, “quality data is only determined at the point of data collection and you are the one to ensure that is done.”

Chief Economist of Development Bank Ghana, Prof Eric Osei Assibey, said the project was intended to help Ghana strengthen its capacity to produce the food, goods and services it needs while empowering women to participate actively in national development.

“As a bank the MSMEs are very important to us and this exercise marks the beginning of regenerating a very important evidence-based data that demonstrates and provide evidence of how the they are performing,” he said.

He noted that governments, development partners and financial institutions had introduced various interventions to support MSMEs, but said the study would help address gaps in the availability of empirical data by establishing a database to track the performance of enterprises.

Prof Assibey stressed that the quality of the performance index being developed would depend largely on the accuracy and completeness of the information gathered by the field officers.

“if you collect poor data, un-useful data, incomplete data, the outcome and the report that will come out will not be of that quality we want,” he stressed.

He urged the enumerators to demonstrate professionalism and a strong sense of responsibility, warning that failure to do so could compromise the quality of the data.

Acknowledging the challenges associated with fieldwork, including the pressure to complete assignments quickly while maintaining high standards, Prof Assibey urged the officers to balance efficiency with accuracy.

He further encouraged them to remain patient, adopt a positive mindset and treat respondents with respect to ensure the collection of credible data that reflects conditions on the ground.

“My advice to you is be sincere but bold in some instances to attain data credibility

Meanwhile, lead facilitator of the training programme, Dr Worlanyo Ahiadome, cautioned that the significant investment in the project could be wasted if the data collected were not authentic.

He said inaccurate measurements could lead to poorly targeted policies and urged field officers to prioritise data quality throughout the exercise.

Director of Business, Industry, Trade and Statistics, Dr Owusu Kagya, also called on the enumerators to adhere to data collection ethics to ensure the programme’s success.