Government has said it will offer free training to about 6,000 startup businesses as part of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan (NEIP).

The training will be coordinated by the Ministry of Business Development, its Acting Chief Director Joe Tackie said.

“About two weeks ago we launched a massive National Business Planning competition in the country, and within this short period we have had close to 6,000 applicants. Under the NEIP programme being implemented by my ministry, all of them are going to go through training for free,” he said.

“Soon after that, this number will be shortlisted to 500 – who will get between GHc 10,000 and GHc 100,000 depending on the nature and sector of business,” he added.

The Acting Director revealed that the application process was done online across all ten regions in Ghana, and was apolitical to avoid issues of favouritism, undue advantage and nepotism.

Speaking at an Executive Breakfast Meeting organised by the Business Community for Africa (BCA), Joe Tackie explained that government is committed to creating an enabling business environment; that is why President Akufo-Addo has earmarked US$10million toward the NEIP programme, which could be increased to $100m.

He said, over the years, Ghana has fallen in the Global Competitiveness Index rankings, reflecting the high level of difficulty in doing business in the country that hampers growth and stalls national development.

He however assured that government will ensure a business-friendly climate, through job creation and business support measures to ease the rate of unemployment in the country.

“My ministry is championing the development of massive greenhouses that will create jobs across the country. We have established over 75,000 domes in Dawhenya which are producing massive amounts of products that have already gotten off-takers from all over the world.”

Joe Tackie added that his ministry is willing to work with entrepreneurs and businesses across Ghana in a bid to create a favourable working environment within the country.

“We are very new, but we are working very fast. We are open and welcome suggestions from you, and together we will be able to achieve the overall mandate of the President to make Ghana the most business-friendly country in Africa.”

Chairman for the event and Board Chair of Business Community for Africa, Kwadwo Ohemeng Asumaning said: “The BCA will continue creating these platforms and expects to get feedback, and even forward some questions you couldn’t ask so we relay them to the relevant ministries. Together, we can have a stronger voice in implementing policy decisions”.

The Executive Breakfast Meeting is the first of its kind organised by the BCA under the theme ‘Good to Great: Providing the enabling environment for businesses to thrive – the role of the Ministry of Business Development & BCA’.

The event seeks to bring together representatives from government and relevant stakeholders in the business environment – to engage in dialogue on topical issues, create networking opportunities, and proffer solutions to critical problems in the business environment.