By Kwabia Owusu-Mensah
Kumasi, Dec. 04, GNA – Mr George Twum-Barima-Adu, an independent presidential candidate in the December 7 elections, is set to launch a new industrialisation path for the development of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana.
The Small and Medium Industries Development Organisation (SMIDO) is a new overarching SME policy model for the Suame Magazine and the artisanal engineering industry.
It will be unveiled by Mr Nyaaba-Aweeba Azongo, the running-mate to Twum-Barimah-Adu, who is also the consultant and Principal Architect of the Suame Magazine Industrial Development Organisation.
The SMIDO aims to re-imagine, redefine and repurpose Ghana’s industrialisation path as a graduated process of MSMEs development to replace the current unsustainable industrial development the country had practiced since independence.
Mr Azongo told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Kumasi that the George-Twum-Barimah-Adu-Azongo ticket, when voted into power, would be committed to promoting industrial development in all parts of the country.
He said he associated with the position of Professor Keijiro Otsuka, a renowned International Industrial Development Specialist from FASID, Tokyo, who said “Sub-Saharan Africa will never succeed in industrialisation if it focuses on the development of inappropriate industries. It is better to begin with simple labour-intensive industries: Garment, Shoe, Weaving, Metalwork, Simple Machinery etc.”
The Regional SMIDO policy, Mr Azongo said, would create a special 24-hour SMEs Incubation City Enclaves (SMIDOPolis) in each region.
He said the MSME growth pole centres were based on the three ‘Es’ of business development governance: Business Environment Development, Business Enterprise Development, and Business Entrepreneurship Development.
The national and regional SMEs growth city centres would be linked to MSMEs in all regions to provide integrated services and domestic direct investment partnership to graduate MSMEs from micro -small-medium-large-multinational order, as part of George Twum Barimah-Adu’s Domestic Direct Investment (DDI) policy, he said.
Mr Azongo said the SMIDO model, which he initiated to transform the Suame Magazine and the entire artisanal engineering industry into a modern industrial sector in Ghana, was successfully piloted, which attained international scope and reputation.
He, therefore, intends to replicate the Model for all SMEs as Ghana’s Case Model for MSME development.
“The fact that 92% of all businesses in the country are MSMEs and the sector employs about 82% of Ghanaians, contributes 70% to GDP, and holds 85% of manufacturing sector employment, made it Ghana’s principal growth pole and propelling sector requiring a more vigorous and comprehensive approach to its development than is currently the case,” he stated.
He said the regional SMIDO Growth Pole centres would facilitate the establishment of community skills, entrepreneurial & employment development (community-SEED).
“The community- SEED is to plant the perpetual seed of community wealth creation and prosperity for all,” Mr Azongo said.
“It is to provide a three-phase programme to increase opportunities for youth in the communities through professional development, entrepreneurial training and employment creation.”
It will also engage partnerships with the district assemblies, traditional rulers, and industry captains, particularly corporate entities and areas where mining companies operate to offer support as partners for alternative livelihoods to end the youth involvement in ‘galamsey’.
The target group of the Community-SEED programme is the youth, who were barely literate due to early drop out or inability to attend school, those who had attained some formal education but were unemployed, and those with some skills but need retraining to fit into the employment industry.
GNA