Entrepreneur calls for more support for the private sector

An entrepreneur has appealed to the government to provide more support for the private sector to spearhead the country�s economic growth. Madam Philomena Asiamah-Konadu, an Asante-Mampong based entrepreneur, said a lot needed to be done by way of financial resources and policy interventions that would help indigenous businesses to acquire cutting-edge technologies to become competitive. Speaking to the Ghana News Agency at Mampong, she said given the right conditions there should not be any doubt that Ghanaian Small-scale and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) could propel the nation�s economy to greater heights. They would not only provide jobs but create wealth. Mad Asiamah-Konadu is the Manager of Asikon Products Enterprise, producers of body wash and lotion. She complained about the flooding of the Ghanaian market with inferior foreign goods and said it was important that the nation insisted on standards. There is also the need to ensure proper packaging of the local products to make them more attractive to the Ghanaian consumer. Mad Asiamah-Konadu reminded the people that it was by patronizing locally manufactured products that they would be helping to sustain the private sector. She said the present situation where the nation, through its preference and taste for foreign goods, was supporting the growth of outside economies must change. She said the banks should identify SMEs in rural areas for support to help improve rural economies to stop the rural-urban drift.