A lecturer at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Dr Andrews Ayiku, has urged the government to develop a social safety net (SSN) to cushion people who lose their jobs and businesses that collapse.
“What happens to people when they lose their jobs? What happens to them when their businesses collapse? When this happens, they become unemployed, and there is no safety net or nothing to support them,” he stated.
SSN is targeted at those people who are adversely affected by crises or sudden shocks, and who are mostly poor people.
Dr Ayiku was speaking about areas of policy reform needed to support SMEs to thrive at the Citi Business Festival forum on ‘Building Resilient SMEs’ on Citi TV in Accra on Tuesday.
“The SSN will give businesses a lot of encouragement, as they will know who and where to go to when their businesses or sales are going down,” he added.
Dr Ayiku also stressed the need for regulations on SMEs to be simplified, adding that “there are lots of tax incentives, but who knows which tax incentives benefit them?”
He indicated that the regulatory regime scared a lot of people, and that SMEs regulations should be simplified in order to attract more businesses.
“We should remember that that is the only way this country will develop. When we are able to push and encourage people,” he added.
Taaka Awori, Chief Executive Officer of Busara Africa, a consulting firm, urged SMEs to form strategic partnerships to seize opportunities.
“For instance, I am finding that to expand to the francophone countries of the West African market, which is just booming in terms of demand for leadership development, I now need to partner with people who are bilingual,” she added.
Ms Awori also encouraged SMEs to join associations in order to attract investments and support from other organizations.
“Join associations if you are a business owner, because often the likes of us will provide support to associations rather than just one person,” she added.
About the Citi Business Festival
The annual Citi Business Festival is a month-long initiative marked with on-air and outdoor events in the month of June to equip Ghanaian businesses with strategies to grow and scale up while meeting emerging trade and commerce trends.
This year, the festival is themed around the Made in Ghana Agenda.
There are live radio on-air series at 9:05 am every Monday to Thursday on the Citi Breakfast Show on Citi FM. On Fridays, however, it airs at 7:10 am.
Aside from the on-air series, there will be weekly forums on Citi TV every Tuesday to hold discussions on the theme for the week as well as special TV feature stories aimed at showcasing indigenous Ghanaian businesses.
The Citi Business Festival 2023 is powered by Citi TV and Citi FM in partnership with Absa Bank and is proudly sponsored by MTN MOMO, MTN Business, and Zeepay with support from GIRSAL.