Western Regional Minister Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah is challenging businesses in the region to borrow enough funds to make them financially sound to own and maintain productive assets.
He believes that complaints from companies with roots from the region “that all major contracts are being awarded to companies from outside the region will continue if they fail to be daring enough to borrow monies for huge projects.”
“You should also have enough evidence to show that given that huge sum of loan you can pay back. We now have the Development Bank Ghana which is a significant innovation and reinforcement of our financial architecture that will provide medium and long term financing for commercially viable businesses and projects. I therefore encourage businesses in the region to also have the courage to make applications to the DBG”
Speaking at the launch of the 10th anniversary of ConnectFM’s Western Trade Fair, he also entreated businesses to utilize market surveys to guide them in producing the right products for the market.
“Entrepreneurs especially the youth are advised to look critically and assess the gaps that exist in the business landscape, look for our needs and create products to satisfy those need,” he stated.
The Western Trade Fair under the auspices of Media General’s Takoradi based radio station, Connect FM, has been running for the past five years.
The fair which has grown to become the most anticipated activity on the calendar of many residents in the region seeks to bring businesses to their target market and also give consumers wider choices at competitive prices.
The seven-day event has assembled over sixty vendors from all over the country.
Speaking at the launch, the Station Manager for ConnectFM Ransford Nana Osei Asare assured the exhibitors of continuous changes to make it more successful.
“This year the Connect team with the experience gathered from the previous fairs has among the series of activities added a seminar in collaboration with Virtual Space Ghana to this year’s Fair to expose our vendors to the new trends and avenue available to them to maximise profits. We are committed as a station to assist the region through our programmes and Events life lift the image of the region while we offer our platform for commercial advertisement.
He also mentioned: “as part of our 6th Anniversary, we donated to the Apiatse disaster victims with support from ICGC Takoradi and we will continue to support every worth cause as far as the region is concerned.”
This year’s Western Trade Fair is sponsored by Allianz Insurance with partnership from the Takoradi Mall.
By Eric Yaw Adjei|ConnectFM|Onuaonline.com
