Funding For Startups Should Be Increased

The Minister for Business Development, Mohammed Awal, has directed managers of the Skills Development Fund (SDF) to prioritize startups in the disbursement of grants.

The directive follows what the Minister describes as the over-concentration of the fund managers on medium to large scale businesses.

The Skills Development Fund is a government initiative aimed at building the capacity of local businesses.

So far, a total of 630 enterprises have received grants worth over $50 million from the fund since 2012.

An additional $14 million is set to be disbursed to small-scale businesses as part of the implementation of the second phase of the project.

Speaking at the 4^th Skills and Technology Fair which was partnered by Citi FM and Citi TV as part of this year's Citi Business Festival, Business Development Minister, Mohammed Awal, urged managers of the Skills Development Fund to prioritize entrepreneurs who are in dire need of financial support.

“It is crucial that you support the startups, 48 percent of the youth in this country do not have jobs and startups do not get bank loans because they don't have collateral. So can we model the next phase of the grants to include startups, it's very important for us,” he noted.

The grant will be used to support trade associations and SME businesses to upgrade the skills of their employees and access technology from Science, Technology and Research institutions both in Ghana and abroad.

“We must help our young people to grow, and they must also learn to take risks to be able to grow with all the opportunities around but they cannot do that alone.”

Also speaking at the event, Deputy Minister for Environment, Science, Technology, and innovation, Patricia Apiagyei, said skills development through education and training is one of the vehicles that can drive industrial growth in the country.

About SDF
The Skills Development Fund is a government initiative and supported by the World Bank and the Danish International Development Agency for improving the productivity and competitiveness of the skilled workforce, and raise the income earning potential of people, especially women and low-income groups.

This is done through the provision of quality-oriented, industry-focused and competency-based training programmes. The Fund commenced operations in March 2011 as one of the projects managed by the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET).

Hundreds of private enterprises, public training and research institutions and universities benefited from a wide range of matching grant support, including: formal and informal sector training grants, training innovation grants (for training providers to work with the private sector to innovate new training approaches), technology partnership grants to help the private sector access technology to drive their growth agenda, and technology centre grants to spur the development of new ways to develop industry.