The National Board for Small Scale Industries' (NBSSI) Upper East Regional Manager, Mr. Mohammed Bukari, claims that his organization is making every effort to secure the success of small enterprises in the area.

According to him, businesses needed to pick up after the COVID-19 hiatus, and the NBSSI was giving small and medium-sized business owners technical training and strengthening their capacity so they could improve their management skills.

He continued, "A lot is happening in the different districts to encourage company growth as part of our fundamental mandate.

Mr. Bukari was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Bolgatanga in response to what opportunities had been made available to businesses to rejuvenate after the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said Micro and Small Enterprises (SMEs) were the backbones of the country’s economic development and therefore government ensured that the NBSSI was equipped to carry out its mandate to support them.

He said NBSSI was collaborating with its partners to provide non-financial and technical support to equip the SMEs to sustainably develop their businesses and improve incomes.

The Government of Ghana, in 2020 provided stimulus packages to SMEs under the COVID- 19 Alleviation Project and Business Support Scheme (CAP BUSS) to mitigate the difficulties businesses suffered under the pandemic.

Many women in business, in the region, benefited from the project.

In 2022, a second phase of the COVID- 19 response programme is being rolled out to further enhance economic recovery, with a grant from the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA) grant Programme, Government, and the World Bank under the Ghana Economic Transformation Project for SMEs nationwide in the various Sectors of the economy.

The NBSSI is a non-profit public sector organization under the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and the Presidential Special Initiatives under the Business Advisory Centers (BACs) established by Act 434 of 1981 with a mandate to promote the growth and development of Micro and Small Enterprises in the Country.