The Tolon District Business Advisory Centre (BAC), of the National Board for Small Scale Industries in the Northern Region, has intensified its efforts at fighting rural poverty through employable skills training.

This is being carried out through linking SMEs with investors and appropriate markets to boost activities of rural businesses in the region.

The initiative is a partnership with the International Fund for Agricultural Development and co-funded by the Rural Enterprises Project to improve the livelihoods of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in the country.

“The development of SMEs is critical in improving livelihoods of the rural poor to enable them contribute to the country’s socio-economic development,” said the District Chief Executive for Tolon, Seidu Abukari.

He disclosed this at a consultative meeting with the SMEs, clients and other stakeholders to deliberate on issues affecting their businesses and how to manage and convert them into profitable business opportunities.

At the event it was discovered that lack of capital and market for produce were some of the challenges militating against rural businesses, especially agricultural produce from the district.

Some other lapses realised from the meeting included poor registration of the businesses, unwillingness of financial institutions to give out credit, as well as lack of investors.

Among the issues discussed were the importance of business registration and how to go about it, how cooperative registration is done, where to find help and how to certify a business operation.

The workshop, which also attracted about 47 SMEs, was also to inculcate into the businesses the need to take business opportunities seriously and see registration of their businesses as an important aspect of operations.

The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Tolon, Seidu Abukari, reiterated the need for SMEs to be strengthened in the country to boost business activities.

This, he noted, will enhance socio-economic growth and go a long way to alleviate poverty in the country.

“It will not be enough to provide people with employable skills. It is also important to make sure they have the basic tools and seed capital to practice what they have been taught,” he added.

He assured that the Assembly is committed to building an entrepreneurial society, by strengthening small businesses through the Rural Enterprises Programme to enhance economic development at the local level.

Wilson Lee Herrd, a representative from the Registrar-General Departments, urged SMEs to ensure proper registration of their businesses.

Haruna Mohammed, the Tolon District Head of BAC/NBSS, said the district has been training start-ups on entrepreneurial skills to equip them with skills to create jobs for themselves.

Going forward, Mr. Haruna said, BAC is keen on growing small-scale and medium enterprises to create wealth and boost the economies of rural communities, which could prevent people from moving to urban centres in search of non-existent jobs.