Hardworking Woman in UE gets support

By Samuel Akapule, GNA
Navrongo, March 1, GNA- The diligence and hard work of a 38 Years -old physically challenged woman in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality of the Upper East Region has earned her support from an NGO to expand her business.

Madam Babe Separi, a single parent of four, makes camp beds for sale and was selected by the Centre for Social Mobilization and Sustainable Development (CENSODEV), a Non-Government Organization, with sponsorship from Self Help Activation Responsibility Empowerment (S.H.A.R.E) Foundation, a charitable organization in Germany, from a group of clients in the Kassena Nankana Municipality who were trained in entrepreneurship skills.

The NGO offered her micro startup credit facility to buy her raw materials and to establish her shop with the requisite equipment to help improve upon her livelihood and increase her income.

Her hard work and single handedness in taking good care of herself and the children convinced the NGO to help her improve her work.

This came to light when some staff of CENSODEV and Journalists paid separate coaching visits to the beneficiaries to interact with them and to see how they were preparing to receive the micro credits to establish their business set-ups.

Speaking to the Media, Madam Babe said she had learnt how to keep records of her business and good customer relations at the entrepreneurial training programme and that was good for her business.

She had also learnt about the importance to register her Business with the Assembly and advertise her products through making of signboards to showcase her products and the direction to her business centre, she said.

Madam Separi said she sold each camp bed for 150 Ghana cedis, and the peak period for the beds was during the hot season, from March to May, when many people use camp beds to sleep in the open at night to enjoy the cool air and avoid crowding in rooms that could easily spread the Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) disease.

Whilst calling on her colleagues who engage in begging to stop the practice and to learn a trade, she appealed to other development partners to consider the plight of physically challenged persons (PWDS) and offer them entrepreneurial training to enable them make a living.

The Executive Director of CENSODEV, Mr Braimah Sanjage, said the project was in its pilot phase and had also helped the beneficiaries to develop business plans to secure start-up capital from the project which would be given to them very soon.

Among its objectives, is the creation of jobs and ensuring that the people who were engaged in the SMEs become economically self-reliant, engage others, as well as ensure environmental sustainability in conducting their businesses.

He said the project would help link the beneficiaries to market their products by establishing a marketing platform and also establish a business innovation start-up Centre for those who would be finding it difficult to set up their outfit and also continue to conduct coaching sessions for those who lack capacity to grow their enterprises.

The Director then thanked the acting Chief of Navrongo Traditional Council for his interest in CENSODEV's SME programme and called on the authorities of the Kassena Nankana Municipality to expedite the process of releasing a structure CENSODEV earmarked for a Business Innovation start up Centre.

GNA