Joe Jackson, Chief Executive Officer of Dalex Finance, has said Small and Medium‑Scale Enterprises (SMEs) funding in Ghana has become economic charity rather than a deliberate growth strategy.
Speaking at a Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) public engagement dubbed “Evening with Joe Jackson” on the theme “Ananse Stories About the Ghanaian Economy,” he argued that the persistent framing of SME support as a catalyst for national growth was misleading.
Mr. Jackson explained that while SMEs formed an important part of the economy, most operated informally, faced chronic productivity challenges, and struggled to scale.
“SME funding in its current form is economic charity, not a growth strategy. We have over 60 different SME initiatives launched in just 10 years, yet productivity remains low, firms remain informal, and many collapse within three years.
“If launching SME programmes created growth, Ghana would be an economic superpower by now,” he stated.
Mr Jackson noted that Ghana’s failure to nurture exceptional productive firms or champions had left the country without strong domestic companies capable of anchoring industrialisation, dominating regional markets, or retaining value created from local resources.
He called for a shift from generic SME interventions to a targeted model that backs high‑performing domestic firms with proven capacity.
“Countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, and South Korea grew by intentionally nurturing strategic winners, not by spreading scarce resources across thousands of micro‑businesses.
“Not all SMEs will grow. Some are simply fighting for survival. Growth comes from exceptional firms, not from scattering support to everyone. We must select champions regardless of politics,” he noted.
Mr Jackson also linked the absence of strong domestic companies to Ghana’s persistent currency challenges, capital leakages, and the dominance of foreign firms in key sectors.
He cautioned that as long as capital, ownership, and decision‑making remained external, profits would continue to be repatriated, leaving Ghana as a “tenant in its own economy.”
Mr Jackson urged policymakers to restructure pension fund rules to channel long‑term domestic capital into productive Ghanaian firms rather than limiting investments largely to government securities.
On the broader economy, he warned that excessive dependence on external capital, limited value addition in the extractive sector, and weak enforcement of local content laws continue to undermine Ghana’s economic sovereignty.
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com
