Ambassador advises Ghanaian small businesses to access Japanese grant

Mr Naoto Nikai, the Japanese Ambassador in Ghana, has appealed to small scale enterprises in the country to access Japanese grants to expand their businesses.

He said it was unfortunate that small business entrepreneurs had failed to take advantage of the opportunity to access the “Japanese grassroots grant assistance” being implemented at the Japanese Embassy in Accra.

Mr Nikai said this during a courtesy call on Mr Kwadwo Nyamekye-Marfo, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister in Sunyani.

He said the grant had accumulated millions of dollars as the Japanese Government continued to provide more funds to support small scale businesses.

Mr Nikai said this assistance and other projects being implemented at the Embassy were efforts by Japan to support Ghana to attain her Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in all sectors.

He said  the Embassy was undertaking a rural electrification project in the Techiman Municipality to connect deprived communities onto the national electricity grid.

He said four Japanese volunteers were in the Brong-Ahafo Region working to help prevent contagious diseases in deprived communities.

Mr Nyamekye-Marfo commended Japan for her assistance in the development of the Region, especially the water supply project Japan undertook in the Sunyani West District which enabled more than 22,000 residents to access potable water.

He said the $1,300 Japanese Women Training Institute at Dormaa-Ahenkro had empowered many women to be self-reliant and appealed to Japan to consider drilling more boreholes in the Region to meet the increasing demand for water.

Source: GNA