ABOUT 70 SMEs have benefitted from an investment session aimed at increasing their competitiveness and making them more investor-ready.
It will also assist them in obtaining money to improve their operations.
As a result, the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) organised an investment session to assist bridge the gap between businesses and the country's investor communities.
It happened at the fifth edition of the Boardroom Breakfast Event, which was co-hosted by the European Union (EU)-funded Investment Promotion and Business Linkages Project.
The event, titled "Impact Investments as a Viable Option for Capital Acquisition," aims to raise awareness of impact investing and private equity funding opportunities in the nation.
Increasing competitiveness
Johnson Opoku Boateng, the Director for Business Development Services at AGI, briefed the Graphic Business at the meeting on June 10 in Accra, saying the event was organised to enhance competitiveness and capacity for SMEs in the nation to allow them to harness their potential and become global giants.
"When we think of investment, we immediately think of foreign direct investments" (FDIs). We also know that Ghana Investment Promotion (GIPC) has done an excellent job of attracting FDIs.
"But we also realised that there are so many people who can invest in our enterprises," he added. "So this is the start of a new age in which businesses will be closer to investors."
"We've seen that the link between investors and industry hasn't been there," he said, "so AGI attempts to bridge that gap to guarantee that our firms in Ghana have access to finance from the Ghanaian investor community."
As a result, he added, the conference provided an opportunity for impact and private equity investors to connect with the attendees, who were mostly company owners, on how to acquire investment.
"The conference was to teach the firms precisely what they needed to do to make themselves visible for investment," he explained. "It was also to advise them on how much money is available in the ecosystem for investment."
Equity financing is one option.
The workshop was conducted to help SMEs understand the option of equity financing and how they may explore it, according to Nelson Amo, CEO of Innohub, a consultancy business.
"We could see clearly that there was a need for a lot more discussions and information sharing on how to get investment," he added, citing the tone of the participants' questions.
He noted that, despite the high demand for financing, firms wishing to access these funds had to demonstrate ready before they could profit.