Vodafone Business Solutions (VBS) the enterprise arm of Vodafone Ghana  for the second consecutive time, headlined the Small and Medium Enterprise Ghana Awards (SMEGA).

The award scheme, which is aimed at challenging, rewarding and encouraging entrepreneurship in the country,took place yesterday August 10, 2016 at the Banquet Hall, State House in Accra.

This year’s event was on the theme “Sustaining Ghana’s SMEs in a Globally Competitive Market; through local support for Made in Ghana Products”.

The speech for this year's event was delivered by the British High Commissioner in Ghana,H.E Jon Benjamin.The well written speech covered all aspects of issues affecting the SMEs in Ghana as well as some remedies to curb the problem.

He acknowledged the relevance of SMEs in creating jobs in the country.

"I start this evening from the premise that, generally speaking, governments do not create jobs, the private sector does. And that within the private sector, SMEs are central to that endeavour." he said

"But governments do set and police the rules, including incentives and disincentives, and ensuring a level playing field or otherwise. In other words, governments can be either an enabler or an obstacle. In the UK, our government’s aim - obviously - is to be such an enabler so that SMEs grow and flourish." he added

Jon Benjamin reiterated the UK's interest in supporting the Ghanaian business sector.

"Indeed, here in Accra, on September 1, we will launch the UK-Ghana Chamber of Commerce, another platform for UK companies to access support and develop partnerships with Ghanaian companies". He stated

The SME Ghana Awards is an annual event organized by Imagine8, in partnership with the Ministry of Trade and Industry, World Association of SMEs, Ghana Investment and Promotion Centre (GIPC) and Graphic Communications Group Ltd.

by: Farida Mohammed/ghanaguardian.com