The Skills Development Fund (SDF) last Thursday presented grants totalling GH�16.3 million to 40 Small, Medium and Large Scale Industries, Science, Technology and Research Institutions to undertake various skills and innovative technology development initiatives.
It formed part of the government�s initiative to boost the operations of formal and informal enterprises under a $60 World Bank and Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) sponsored project.
Enterprises in the agricultural, Information Communication Technology, hospitality and tourism, textiles, building and construction, among other sectors, are to be awarded grants during the five-year span of the SDF, which started in 2011 and managed by the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET) to enhance their productivity and competitiveness.
In a speech read on her behalf at the award ceremony in Accra, the Minister of Education, Professor Jane Naana Opoku �Agyemang, urged the beneficiaries to make true meaning out of the skills and innovative technology provided.
�I urged the project support unit of COTVET to put in place a robust and efficient monitoring and evaluation systems and framework to ensure that activities of the grantees are closely monitored for optimum productivity and result�, she said.
The SDF Manager, Mr Ebenezer Ato Simpson, said the committee received 428 applications last year out of which 55 of them were evaluated and approved for the grant.
He urged the beneficiaries to utilise the grant efficiently to achieve the intended purpose.
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