Businesses seeking to access support from the NBSSI MasterCard Foundation Recovery and Resilience Program for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, will be able to secure the funds after its launch on Wednesday, 12th August, 2020.
MasterCard Foundation, in partnership with the National Board for Small Scale Industries, an agency under Ghana’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, announced the creation of an Emergency Program to support MSMEs and start-ups in Ghana, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic with an initial amount of GH¢90 million.
A statement issued on the NBSSI MasterCard Foundation Recovery and Resilience Programme, said it would focus on supporting MSMEs that need support to survive the COVID-19 pandemic; and businesses in growth sectors where the employment of young people, especially young women, will be negatively impacted as a result of business operation disruptions, supply chain challenges, liquidity shortages, declining sales and profits, and business closures.
Other beneficiaries would include businesses providing services that will be in demand during the pandemic, and that have the potential to grow and positively impact communities affected by COVID-19; and businesses that will focus on digitization to support MSMEs.
The programme will provide financial assistance, in the form of grants and soft loans, through participating institutions including banks, microfinance, mobile lenders, non-governmental organizations and Business Development Services, to eligible, qualified micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, both in the formal and informal sectors.
It indicated that the amount and type of financial support provided to a beneficiary would vary depending on the size of enterprise, their need and repayment capacity.
In an interview with Citi Business News, Executive Director of the NBSSI, Kosi Yankey Ayeh, explained that the funds will be made available after the launch on Wednesday 12th August, 2020.
“…So other people have come on to support and complement government’s efforts. One of them is the MasterCard foundation that we have a partnership with, and during this challenge, we spoke to them and shared with them how we were going to support businesses and SMEs, and they brought a top up of about ninety million Ghana cedis to complement government’s efforts; this time for resilience and recovery.
“And so we will start working on that so that those who might not even have benefited from government will also have access and it will help build the businesses and help them, the soft launch is this coming Wednesday, 12th August, 2020″.
