Implementing Partners under the Sustainable Competitive and Responsible Enterprises (SCORE) programme have been advised to seek advisory supports in addition to commercial funding.

Professor Samuel Lartey, Head, Research and Consultancy at the Chartered Institute of Bankers Ghana, who gave the advice, said in most cases, what Small and Medium-scale Enterprises, needed was ‘guidance’ to business growth and expansion and not funding.

Prof Lartey was speaking at the opening of a three-day SCORE Partnership Building and Fundraising workshop for five implementing partners in Accra.

The partners are Management Development And Productivity Institute, SCORE Training Solutions Ghana (STSG), Sekondi Takoradi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (STCCI), Hospitality Coaching Consult and Federation of Professional Trade Associations in Ghana.

The workshop is to build the capacity of the implementing partners in raising funds to support the delivery of SCORE training in Ghana.

It will also discuss issues relevant to fundraising including mapping of potential funding agencies in Ghana (bilateral, multilateral, national companies) sources of funding cycles and strategic directions of partners and essentials of a winning proposal.

Others are institutional structures and arrangements required by funding partners and networking and partnership building for funding.

SCORE is an International Labour Organisation with global programme that improves productivity and working conditions in Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Prof Lartey said there were many supports available to SMEs to scale up their businesses but they always, “zero down on only financial support.”

“We should not only focus our hearts, energies on financial support and when that support does not come, then we become discouraged and disappointed,” he said.

Mr Samuel Asiedu, the National Programmes Coordinator, SCORE Project, said since 2011, the SCORE training was ongoing under phase I, phase II, and phase III, which was expected to end in 2021.

He said the training demonstrated the best international practices in the manufacturing and services sector and helped SMEs to participate in global supply chains.

The National Programmes Coordinator said about 215 SMEs had benefitted from the training, with funding from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) of Switzerland and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation.

Mr Asiedu said the training supported firms to put in place a system that addressed the changing business environment and emerging needs through the generation of ideas, keeping the best industry practices and culture of continuous improvement.

He said the workshop would enhance the financial sustainability of enterprises.

Mr Kweku Odame-Takyi, the Director-General of the Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI), charged the partners to work hard to improve the economic development of the country.

MDPI has signed MoU with ILO SCORE to facilitate the transfer of responsibilities for SCORE training activities in Ghana.

Mr Fred Pappoe, Senior Policy Advisor, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, commended the SCORE team and the implementing partners for working towards growing the sector and the local economy.

He said the Agency was impressed with the work down so far, indicating that the future of work was bright.

“Sustainability is the objective of every project and we hope that now that we are pulling out, the project will be sustained…”