By Patrick Ofoe Nudzi
Accra, July 11, GNA – Organisers of the SME Ghana Awards, SME GrowAfrica (SMEGA), in partnership with MTN Ghana, has relaunched the awards scheme to honour Ghana’s most outstanding Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and individual entrepreneurs.
The Scheme, originally instituted in 2013, was truncated by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. However, with its relaunch on Thursday, July 10, five years after the break, the awards promise to bring dynamism and global competitiveness.
With a tagline: “Celebrating Ghana’s SMEs,” and a theme: “Sustaining Ghana’s SMEs in a Globally Competitive Market,” the relaunch ushers in a new era of recognition, growth support and celebration of innovation and impact among local businesses.
Mr Kwasi Ofori Jr., the Executive Director, SME GrowAfrica, said the organisation was committed to ensuring that its long-standing principles of transparency, impartiality and honesty associated with the awards scheme would not be overlooked.
He said nominations had officially opened following the relaunch and would close on August 15 where vetting and other processes would take place before the main awards night in 2026.
Mr Ofori said a total of 18 awards categories would be given and 13 of the categories would be competitive awards whilst the remaining five would be non-competitive aimed at recognising some great contributions.
The categories are SME Best Overall Award, SME Woman Entrepreneur Award, Rising Star Award, SME Media Reportage Award, SME Digitilasation & Technology Adoption Award, High Impact Award, Industry Shapers Award and Brand Discovery Award, among others.
The Executive Director said the awardees would benefit from a lot of packages including capacity building where experts from the Netherlands would coach them for two weeks, and promote their businesses to the world.
The awardees would also benefit from media engagements and opportunities into the Indian Investment market, as well as a three-month MBA class where corporate governance, legislation, marketing and product branding would be taught to help them grow.
“The partnership with MTN will help deepen further the progress and investments made. We believe that if we position the awardees in the right way and give them the right tools, no amount of money can give them the values and incentives given them,” Mr Ofori said.
Mr Abubarkari Saddique Mohammed, Senior Manager, SMEs Sales of MTN, said they were supporting SMEGA to mobilise SMEs to propel their businesses, adding that the support would be in the form of connectivity because businesses thrived on connectivity.
“We have a solution called the “Yellow Bees,” which has four benefits including a device with a minimum data of about two gigs, a unified communication which has an intercom system for their offices and we would also create a website for them. We want to ensure that the SMEs have web presence,” he said.
Partners for the 2025 SME Ghana Awards include MTN Ghana (Headline Sponsor) Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Ghana Enterprises Agency, Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, PUM Netherlands, Ephesus Business School and World Association for Small and Medium Enterprises (WAS ME).
GNA
Edited Agnes Boye-Doe