JICA And NBSSI Empower Central Region Ghanaian SMEs
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in conjunction with the National Board for Small-Scale Industries (NBSSI) has organized a one-day training and capacity building workshop for Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises in the Central Region of Ghana.
The training was on how knowledge and skills could be improved, in order for SMEs to be helped in promoting the best practices, in a bid to fertilize the growth of their businesses at minimal costs. The program was tailored to improving the productivity of SMEs while bolstering their capacity via the application of rudimentary “Kaizen model” of business management. Kaizen is a word with Japanese origin, with roots to a philosophy that focuses on the continuous improvement in all ramifications of production.
The Head of Cape Coast Business and Advisory Center, Mrs. Francisca Dokua Larbi, appealed that participants put the Kaizen business model into employ, which focuses on the improvement of processes and products while using employee creativity to help define the way procedures and systems could be enhanced. She said the approach was the best way to maximize productivity and maintain the quality of products with second-to-none service experience.
She remarked that the unavailability of start-up capital, high-interest rates, lack of business advice and limited access to public infrastructure as well as banking services, were some of the numerous challenges SMEs are bedecked within the Central Region.
Mrs. Francisca remarked that in order for SMEs to outwit these challenges, they need to take customer service as a matter of priority, as it remains the crux of every organization’s success. Buttressing, she said, “A business cannot thrive in the absence of customers, and a good relationship with customers is the determiner of a businesses’ future.”
One of the participants of the workshop, by the name Jonathan Amponsah Mensah, accorded accolades to NBSSI and JICA for their efforts to empower SMEs not only with cash but also with the knowledge that would enable them to catapult their businesses to greater heights. He said the training was apt and timely after he which called for more of such periodic exercises to empower them to adopt the best practices in the management of their businesses to expand and create employment.
Solomon Botway, another benefactor of the initiative, as well called on the Regional Secretariat of NBSSI to ensure that the Kaizen method is extended to all districts in the region, in order for product quality and business competitiveness to be enhanced.
Source: Ghananewsagency
