Ministry outlines initiatives to .......(Satuday November 28 pg.....)

THE Ministry of Trade and Industry has outlined various activities in its efforts to ensure value addition to Ghanaian raw materials through knowledge transfer and innovation.
The activities have been captured in the ministry’s Trade Sector Support Programme (TSSP), which is designed to implement the Ghana Trade Policy and deliver rapid and strategic expansion of the country’s productive base.
The TSSP is targeted at a technological improvement programme in which existing industries would be retooled.
A Technological Innovation Centre (TIC), which will use the state-of-the-art technology to manufacture capital goods such as parts and components of industrial machinery and equipment for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), will also be established.
The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr John Gyetuah, made this known at the African Knowledge Transfer Partnership (AKTP) business forum, which was on the theme: “Successes of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships in Ghana”.
Mr Gyetuah pledged the ministry’s support to the AKTP and stated the ministry’s preparedness to incorporate the project into the its agenda to promote national development.
The chairman for the occasion and President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Mr Tony Oteng Gyasi, urged the beneficiaries to look beyond growing their businesses and be interested in developing strong brands that would command world-wide respect.
The AKTP sought to improve the competitiveness of Ghanaian companies on the domestic and export markets, build a bridge between industry and the academia, reduce waste and ensure environmental sustainability, and improve the profit of businesses among other objectives.
Under the project, selected SMEs benefited from research by such institutions as the Nogouchi Memorial Institute, the Department of Crop Science, University of Ghana; Food Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, among others, which cost the British Council £350,000.
The Director of the British Council (BC), Ghana, Mr Moses Anibaba, told the Daily Graphic that the BC’s expectations had been met. He said his outfit was prepared to engage other stakeholders to raise funds to expand the project so that it could have bigger impact around the country.
He added that the project would not only help business growth but also strengthen Ghana’s human resource development through the technological and knowledge transfer, which is the responsibility of personnel from a science background attached to the SMEs as associates.
A beneficiary of the project, Mr Vincent Malm of Nkulenu Industries, told the Daily Graphic that the project had been successful in helping the company to improve its quality assurance and increase its profit by 35 per cent.
The AKTP is a British Council-sponsored initiative aimed at supporting partnership between private sector organisations and higher institutions of learning in sub-Saharan Africa. The partnership projects leverage research, science, knowledge, technology and skills through innovation to improve products and services.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Need an Auto Loan? Monday, April 2, 2012, pg 20

Spiritual healers, men of God take over billboards, Monday, September 17, 2012, pg 32