THE second phase of the Business Advocacy Challenge Fund (BUSAC II) has been launched in Tamale with the release of a $20 million assistance package to boost the operations of businesses over the next five years.
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Hannah Tetteh, who inaugurated the fund, also unveiled a new office for the management of the fund.
The new office is to serve as an information centre and also offer support to business groups located in the northern part of the country.
The fund, among other things, seeks to build the capacities of beneficiaries by identifying, analysing and researching into challenges that constrain their operations, growth and profitability.
The first phase of the initiative, which began in 2004, ended in February 2010, with 362 business associations, media and labour unions in the country benefiting from a $7.9 million grant.
The fund, which has been increased to $20 million under Phase II, will cover a five-year period.
The Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the European Union and the DFID are supporting the programme.
“BUSAC Phase II will continue to be a demand-driven challenge fund that will be directed towards special themes which would otherwise be neglected, to the disadvantage of the majority of the business community,” the minister said.
She, therefore, advised would-be beneficiaries to effectively conduct research into issues affecting their operations to improve the capacities of their respective businesses.
The BUSAC Fund Manager, Dr Dale Rachmeler, indicated the enormous impact the fund had made in the lives and businesses of beneficiaries since its establishment in 2004.
“Ghana has demonstrated, over the past five years, that it has all the ingredients to create and maintain the all- important open environment crucial for growth,” he stated.
The Head of Delegation of the European Union, Ambassador Claude Maerten, observed that the private sector was the engine of growth and it was for that reason that the EU was committed to the success of the programme to create job opportunities and wealth.
The Deputy Northern Regional Minister, Mr San Nasabu Asabigi, said the Northern Region had great potential in agriculture and other natural resources that could be tapped to improve the well-being of the people.
He expressed the hope that the inauguration of the BUSAC II Fund would serve as a catalyst to accelerate the competitiveness, growth and development of the private sector, particularly in the north.
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