The Venture Capital Fund, established to support the growth of businesses, has invested more than GH¢11.9 million in companies in the country since it began its operations in 2006.
The investments cover companies in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT), education, finance, poultry, pharmaceutical, agriculture and environmental or waste management sectors.
Taking his turn at the weekly meet-the-press series in Accra yesterday, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the fund, Nana Osei-Bonsu, gave the regional breakdown of the investments as: Greater Accra, GH¢4.8 million; Eastern Region, GH¢3.5 million; the three northern regions, GH¢2.2 million.
The others are Ashanti Region, GH¢561,263; Brong Ahafo, GH¢500,708, and Western Region, GH¢-425,000.
Of particular interest to the fund managers was what Nana Osei-Bonsu described as the special purpose vehicle which involved investment in a sorghum value chain project in four regions in the country.
These are Brong Ahafo and the three northern regions.
“Under the special purpose financing arrangement, funds are extended to finance a company to on-lend exclusively to participants of a special project,” Nana Osei-Bonsu said.
He said at the onset, the programme provided GH¢365,000 for 1,500 farmers in those regions for the production of sorghum for Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited to replace imported barley which the company used for its brewing processes.
“Domestic sorghum production increased from 100 metric tonnes to 903.4 metric tonnes in the first year,” the CEO stated.
He added that for this year’s farming season the fund had provided GH¢1 million to approximately 4,000 farmers under the sorghum value chain project, which was projected to produce in excess of 3,000 metric tonnes of sorghum.
Nana Osei-Bonsu said the project had generated employment opportunities for more than 3,500 farmers directly involved in the project and an additional 25,000 indirect jobs in other related businesses.
He mentioned that direct income to the farmers since 2006 had grown from GH¢102,000 to GH¢371,250 at the end of the 2007 farming season.
Additionally, he said support services sectors, including casual labour, storage and transport, also generated income from GH¢36,000 in 2006 to GH¢52,000 by the end of 2007.
“The project also yielded about 500 jobs in youth employment in the farming communities,” Nana Osei-Bonsu added.
He said as part of efforts to expand the project and mechanise sorghum farming, six tractors and other equipment had been purchased for the farmers, adding that Guinness Ghana Breweries, which buys the sorghum from the farmers, had also constructed 19 borehole water systems for participating communities.
“This is a classic example of the benefits of a public-private partnership,” the CEO stated.
Nana Osei-Bonsu said a three-tier strategic approach had been adopted to provide professional assistance for needy SMEs.
“The essence of the technical assistance is to create efficiency in the operations of the investee companies for successful investment,” he added.
Story by Boahene Asamoah & Gifty Bamfo
