As part of efforts to ensure the sustainability of business and enhance the efficiency and competitiveness of Ghanaian Small and Medium sized Enterprises, the National Project Coordinator for Sustaining Competitive and Responsible Enterprises (SCORE), a project under the International Labour Organisation, ILO, Samuel Onoma Asiedu is calling on multinationals and financial institutions to support the program.
According to him this is aimed at helping small and medium enterprises also improve on productivity.
Speaking on the sidelines of an engagement with lead buyers in Accra, Samuel Onoma Asiedu noted that Ghana’s informal sector currently employs more than 80% of the country’s workforce, and initiatives like the SCORE project and training programme will contribute positively to creating awareness among SMEs to boost resilience post-COVID-19.
“Some of the enterprises also do business with major organizations and it is just right to ensure that these enterprises are delivering quality services. For us to ensure that, we need to build the capacity of these enterprises. So, lead buyers, not only banks, but other multinationals in the processing, mining or service sector can subscribe to SCORE just to build their capacity and improve the quality of these enterprises. Ultimately it is the multinational or the lead buyer that benefits because once you are training these enterprises the services are improving and you enjoy that benefit,” he said.
Already, the SCORE program has benefitted more than 350 local firms so far and is expected to expand to other parts of the country with the needed support.
SCORE was launched in 2011 in Ghana with funding from State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) of Switzerland and Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD).
Since then, SCORE activities have been implemented in various phases: Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III that ends at the close of 2021.
Many SMEs have benefited from SCORE training in Ghana. Some outcomes of this training are, production cost reduction, improved delivery time, better working conditions for employees, waste reduction, less defects and safer working environment.