GHANA – The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) have partnered to support the development and growth of micro, small to medium enterprises.
Mrs Delese Mimi Darko, the Chief Executive Officer of the FDA and Mrs Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, the Executive Director of NBSSI, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to actualize the partnership.
The MoU, according to a FDA/NBSSI, joint statement aims at formalising and institutionalising the processes and procedures of the two institutions in line with their mandate towards supporting (MSMEs) streamline their operations.
“In realising the aspirations of the Government to industrialise Ghana, the roles of the two institutions had become very significant in the effort to support the development and growth of MSMEs,” Mrs Darko said.
She noted that statistics reveal that more than 90 per cent of local industries that fell under the purview of the FDA were SMEs.
She further noted that majority these SMEs were operated by women and young entrepreneurs either in the food and cosmetics or household chemical sectors.
Such businesses, she said, were usually operated from homes and were found in virtually all the districts of the country.
Mrs Darko said beyond the financial challenges they faced, many of those SMEs experienced difficulties in meeting regulatory requirements needed to obtain market authorisation.
That handicap, according to her, stalled government’s effort through the NBSSI to see to the development of those SMEs, hence preventing such businesses to access the market and grow.
FDA has however, made significant strides in responding to those challenges through a paradigm shift in its regulatory approaches to facilitate industries’ positive response to regulatory requirements in areas such as the downward review of fees and charges to MSMEs.
As part of the collaboration, Mrs Darko said the FDA would make available all the necessary information needed by the NBSSI officials manning the Business Advisory Centres (BACs) across the country and support them in areas relevant to its regulatory frameworks.
This would ensure that the BACs truly became one stop shop in providing SMEs with adequate information regarding market authorisation procedures and related matters to allow for the smooth registration of their products.
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