Economic development and fiscal policy expert, Julius Nana Yaw Gyimah, has called for a deliberate policy by the state to help build more Small and Medium-size Enterprises (SMEs) to create more millionaires.
He says such an initiative will materialize within five to 10 years, if measures are put in place to ensure the businesses become resilient enough to withstand the economic challenges.
Speaking at the Affinity Ghana-sponsored Onua FM Small and Medium-size Enterprises forum on the theme; Building a Resilient Business in Economic Uncertainty Wednesday, April 17, 2024, Mr. Gyimah indicated that the Ghanaian economy, since independence, has thrived on SMEs, expressing the need to keep the sector active.
Explaining the need to prioritise SMEs in Ghana, Mr. Gyimah gave poverty statistics of the world population, stressing the need for Ghana to redeem itself from abject poverty as a developing economy.
“We must team up to create a deliberate policy and build up SMEs to build more millionaires in the next five to 10 years. According to statistics, about 84% of the world population are living in poverty. Out of that, 56% are living in developing countries and out of that 56%, 26% are living in extreme poverty,” he disclosed.
He held that SMEs “are the businesses that can build our economies and not the government.”
In his explanation, he said government can only introduce policies but it is the people that can sustain those businesses to help the policies function.
He extolled the spirit of petty traders who hawk on the scorching sun, indicating that their spirit is what is needed to transform Ghana’s economy.
“The government can only bring up policies. It is the people that can let those policies materialize. That’s why people still sell under the scorching sun in traffic and that is the spirit we need to transform our economic fortunes,” he said.
“And it is only the SMES that can help us to eradicate poverty. Without them, there is no economy and without them, there is no government,” the fiscal policy expert added.
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