Some budding businesses within the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Area (STMA), have been taken through various business ideas under the Start-Up 2023 project of Duapa Werkspace and partners.
The initiative, on the theme: “Building Sustainable Businesses for Job Creation”, was also to ensure that the small and medium enterprises develop good regulatory regimes and partnerships that transcended their existence with a clear path of leadership and sustainability.
The Startup Takoradi hosted over 200 innovators, startups, and individuals who shared their innovations and unique business models to ensure job creation.
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Erasmus Ackon, the Chief Executive Officer of the Duapa Werkspace at the programme, which was preceded by a boot camp, said Sekondi-Takoradi had seen tremendous chains of MSMEs in the region, contributing significantly to the GDP, but has constantly lost investment opportunities to other competitors due to failure to meet statutory compliance, improper financial management practices, and low traction due to the use of old marketing practices.
He said many of the SMEs perceived their businesses as family ones and that placed a limitation on how far they could grow.
The Chief Executive Officer said, “This is why other stakeholders similar to Duapa Werkspace can help to engage the SMEs and help them reshape their concept for running a small or medium-scale business with the aim of scaling up and making them sustainable thereby creating more jobs for the unemployed in society.”
By the engagement, the organisers also hoped to reduce youth unemployment through various capacity-building programmes that empowered the youth to gain employable and entrepreneurial skills.
Mr Roland Jesse Prah, the Executive Director of Roland Rice, encouraged them to solve societal problems bearing in mind the SDGs for safer societies.
He reminded them of the need to also perceive and keep focus until the dream was realised irrespective of the tumultuous business environment.
Three startups that excelled in a pitching competition were given 5,000 cedis, 3,000 and cedis and 2000 cedis each to invest in their businesses.
By Shirley Ewurama Smith|ConnectFM|Onuaonline.com
