Small-scale businesses to receive solar panels

Small-scale businesses in the Ashanti Region are to be supplied with solar panels to help keep them in operation amid the raging energy crisis.These are being provided by the Kumasi Polytechnic and the intervention has been hailed as a huge relief.

Mr. Kwame Bour, the Regional Chairman of the Association for Small-Scale Industries (ASSI), who broke the news said dressmakers and barbers would be the first to receive panels.The distribution would later be extended to tailors, hairdressers, electricians, footwear, and leather bag manufacturers.

Addressing a meeting of the association in Kumasi, he said the industries would be aided with technical training on the installation and usage of the panels.

The meeting expressed deep concern about the high interest rate on loans, erratic power supply and high cost of production.

Mr. Buor claimed that about 30 per cent of the members of the association had had their businesses collapsed due to these challenges and appealed to the government to act with urgency to address them.

He announced a collaboration between the association and the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) to get uncertified master craftsmen to write a proficiency examination for the award of certificates.

This, he said, had become necessary to bring efficiency into their work.

Mr. Kingsley Sarpong, the NVTI Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo Regional Head of Apprenticeship, entreated members of the association to embrace training programmes intended to build their capacity and grow their businesses.

Source: GNA