NEIP trains over 2,000 within the Northern Sector

Over 2,000 participants have been trained under the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan (NEIP) Business Plan Competition from January 8 to 12 within the Northern Sector.

The Business Plan competition is being organised by the NEIP, together with its Private Sector Implementation Partner (PSIP) African SME Organisation and the Academic Partner, China Europe Internal Business School (CEIBS).

It was launched on the 18th of December 2017 in Accra by the Minister of Business Development, Mr Ibrahim Awal during the training of 750 participants in the Greater Accra Region.

The training then moved to five other regions within the Northern sector, including Tamale in the Northern Region which saw 452 businesses trained, Wa in the Upper West Region with 97 trained, Bolgatanga in the Upper East with 166, Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo region with 407 and Kumasi in the Ashanti Region with 1152 trained.

The NEIP competition aims at thoroughly training applicants to fine-tune their businesses and develop a business plan that would attract both local and foreign investors.

Opening the seminar for the Northern Sector at Tamale, Mr Yussif Yakubu the programme’s manager for the Minister for Business Development, who delivered the key note address on behalf of the Minister, Mr Mohammed Ibrahim Awal, stressed on the importance of SMEs and their contribution to the development of the country.

He said despite the immense contribution of the sector to the country’s development, many of the SMEs were faced with challenges of which access to capital was a crucial challenge.
It is on this basis that the Government has launched the NEIP initiative, he said.

A representative of the Regional Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Abdulai, the Regional Coordinating Director, who launched the training at Wa underscored the importance of training for young entrepreneurs, existing and non-existing businesses both traditional and Innovation Driven Enterprises to equip them with the required tools to be able to compete with world standards.

In Kumasi, Mr Odei Artta, founder of Artta Junior Footwear, lauded the initiative and thanked the organisers for the vital information to enable them fine-tune their business plans to meet world standards.

Similar stories on the usefulness of the training programme to the building of the right skills were shared by participants at Bolgatanga and Sunyani.
Ellen Darko, an MBA holder and a marketing professional, was full of praise for the training programme.

Deputy CEO for NEIP Statsy Ofei- Darko encouraged the entrepreneurs on the need to take advantage of the initiative to develop their businesses.
She said: “this is a great opportunity to showcase the viable business ideas we have in Ghana.”

The NEIP Business Plan Competition training would continue within the coming weeks in the other regions including; Western, Eastern, Central, Volta and Greater Accra region.