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| Government And ADF To Provide Technical Services |
6/20/2005 |
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The African Development Foundation (ADF), a United States government agency providing financial assistance for the expansion of small- and medium-scale enterprises, has signed a strategic partnership agreement with the government of Ghana to provide up to $50 million direct investment and technical assistance for Ghanaian enterprises.
A statement signed by ADF’s Communications Manager, Mr Bryan Callahan, and issued in Washington DC, said the new five-year agreement will provide up to $10 million yearly to finance up to 40 new business investment projects a year.
Under the programme, which started in 2002, 200 Ghanaian-owned small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) will benefit from direct investment between 2006 and 2010. Each business will receive an expansion capital and management, marketing and technical assistance provided by ADF.
The Minister for Private Sector Development, Mr Kwamena Bartels, signed on behalf of Ghana, while the ADF President, Mr Nathaniel Fields and the Board Chairman, Mr Ward Brehm, signed for the foundation at a ceremony in Washington D.C., the release stated.
According to the release, the President of Ghana, Mr John Agyekum Kufuor, also expressed support for the strategic partnership.
It said ADF and the government of Ghana had each committed itself to providing up to $5 million every year to finance new business expansion under the ADF’s business investment programme, which provides individual Ghanaian businesses with financing and technical assistance valued at about $250,000 each.
The strategic partnership agreement builds on a five-year investment compact that ADF and Ghana signed in November 2002. At that time, each party agreed to commit $1 million yearly to business investment projects benefiting eight Ghanaian-owned businesses per year.
Mr Bartels said the image of the US as an effective development partner was greatly enhanced by strategic partnerships like ADF’s business investment programme.
President Fields, on his part, thanked the Ghana government for the support for the ADF programme, noting that “Ghana has created a positive environment for small business growth, and our agreement underscores America’s commitment to helping Ghana make the dream of prosperity a reality in the 21st century”.
ADF investment stimulates growth in agriculture by helping farmers and agro-processing companies to access regional markets, cultivate new products and achieve international quality standards.
The foundation also provides grants, seed capital and management, marketing and technical assistance to support companies in the manufacturing, service and technology sectors in their early stages so that they can expand.
ADF, according to the release, also helps Ghanaian companies with high growth potential to access additional streams of commercial financing and venture capital.
Recently funded business investments include Afrique Link, manufacturers of canned tomato puree at Wenchi, Barbex Technology of Adomfe, producers of essential oils, Bosbel Vegetable Oils of Tamale, processors of soyabean oil and shea butter and Elsa Foods of Tema, producers of instant fufu flour.
Others are General Mills Company of Kumasi, manufacturers of processed maize for Ghana’s major brewery companies, Getrade Ghana, Accra-based producers of traditional products such as “alata samina”, SAL Tilapia of Akuse, an aquaculture farm that cultivates and harvests tilapia, and Woodhouse Company of Madina, a specialist in the making of school furniture.
Over the past 20 years, ADF has funded 1,600 projects in support of African entrepreneurs and local communities.
Source: Graphic Ghana
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