Government to fund startups through hubs

For most startups, Government makes little or no effort at all towards helping them develop their businesses. As a result, most of them fail in their early stages and they usually fail because of funding.

Well, I am sure that this article is something that will interest every entrepreneur and startups for that matter as funding is a major challenge for them. Maybe you can smile now or maybe not.

The Business Development Minister, Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, has disclosed what seems to be a long awaited dream and prayer of most startups in Ghana that Government is working towards putting a special funding mechanism in place, starting with GH¢20m, to support start-up businesses across various sectors. The Minister said this during a familiarization tour of some Innovation hubs in Accra earlier in February.

He mentioned that the flagship National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan (NEIP) under his Ministry in collaboration with the Private Sector Implementation partner, African SME Organisation, are working to close the deal on the fund by March 2018.

According to him, “it is not going to be a one-off thing when we get the GH¢20m; we will support those we can support then roll again. So, we are going to start it from Accra and see how many people can benefit from that.”

“Some need as little as GH¢5,000 and even GH¢1,000. So, it is not going to be a uniform figure. It depends on the industry and the business that you are doing. So, we are going to look across sectors, whether it’s lifestyle, agri-business, hi-tech, the most important thing is to help create jobs”, he continued.

Ibrahim Mohammed Awal said, Government of Ghana has made some US$10million available under the NEIP, an amount the minister admitted is not enough, but said it could go a long way to support innovative ideas, especially because interest rates on it will be cheaper than that of commercial banks.

This may be a good time for entrepreneur and startups to associate with an innovation hubs, which are all over the country and connected through the Tech and Business hubs Network, Ghana.

By: Tentmaker Ghana, an innovation hub for startups. www.tentmakergh.com