Innohub, a business accelerator and impact investment platform, has appealed to the Government and corporate organisations to establish business parks to serve as co-working spaces to support business start-ups across the country. The Organisation said the high cost of rent and lack of affordable working spaces was a major problem for young entrepreneurs and undermined their ability to raise the needed finances to grow their establishments. Mr Nelson Amo, the Chief Executive Officer of Innohub, made the call in an interview after launching the Osei Business Park – an ultra-modern co-working facility in Tema – dedicated to supporting small and growing businesses. The facility was executed by the Osei Academy Foundation, a non-Governmental Organisation, Prime Advocate, a law firm in the United Kingdom, and Innohub. Mr Amo told journalists that the objective for establishing the facility was to support early-stage businesses and address the issue of real estate deficit for small and growing business who cannot afford to rent office spaces in the long term. He said the Osei Business Park would also provide coaching, mentoring, access to network, partnership and finance opportunities to young entrepreneurs that patronise the facility. ‘We have a fashion venture accelerator. People have gone through fashion training and want to build their fashion start-ups. These guys will have access to toolkits, fashion making space, consulting support and access to international scaling opportunities,’ he said. Mr Amo said the country should be international about policies dedicated to supporting the growth of small and medium enterprises and address all issues that undermine the viability of SMEs. ‘In advanced economies, there is a lot of access to co-working facilities. Every country that is serious about entrepreneurship should think about the real estate issue and this could be a private sector initiative backed by a clear government policy,’ he added. Mrs Gladys Murphy, Founder, Osei Business Park and Osei Academy Foundation, said her dream was to support Ghanaian dressmakers to polish their craft and export their products to foreign markets. She appealed to the Government and corporate organisations to come to support the Academy to achieve its vision of training local fashion designers to scale-up their designs to meet international standards. ‘It is not good only sewing in Ghana and only Ghanaians can use it and we cannot sell it abroad. I want to change that and make it in a way that our Ghanaian fabric would be cut in a way that is appealing and capture the foreign market,’ Mrs Murphy said. Mr Solomon Adjei, President, Association of Ghana Start-ups, applauded Innohub, the Osei Academy and their partners for the initiative and encouraged SMEs to take advantage of the facility. He said providing periodic funding support to SMEs alone was not enough to address the myriad of challenges affecting young entrepreneurs and urged the Government to execute programmes that would holistically champion the growth and survival of SMEs.
Source: Ghana News Agency