Global courier services provider, DHL, has said it will make available to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) its highly trained Certified International Specialists, to support them take their businesses beyond the borders of Ghana.
“For SMEs to grow and develop Ghana, they need to go beyond their borders,” Hennie Heymans, DHL’s CEO for Express Sub-Saharan Africa, said in Accra at a press conference that discussed DHL’s confidence in Ghana and how the company is ready to train SMEs on expansion.
“SMEs must start trading beyond borders and that will provide the economic thrust to propel this continent into double digit figures of growth. This will get our economy into its rightful place in the world,” he said.
“We consider SMEs as the engines for growth and our highly trained Certified International Specialists in Ghana are committed to connecting the SMEs in Ghana with global opportunities,” he added.
With about 90percent of registered companies in Ghana falling into the SME category according to the Registrar General’s Department, SMEs employ more than 80percent of the country’s total workforce and contribute more than 60percent of the nation’s total GDP.
In spite of the enormous contributions SMEs make to the economy, they face myriad challenges including lack of access to credit, weak management skills, and inability to acquire modern technologies and technical know-how.
Statistics show that Africa’s 11.3percent intra-regional trade records the smallest share compared to other continents of the world.
Europe’s intra-regional trade stands at 70 percent, just like Asia’s whiles in North America the figure is 40percent.
“Going beyond borders is feasible. One of the biggest challenges for SMEs are a lack of knowledge which comes with a fair amount of fear of the unknown and people are creatures of comfort and always settle for what they know.
The opportunity is ours to become an enabler in that change and we can help our SMEs to start trading beyond borders and by virtue of that success we will see it reflect through GDP numbers,” he added.
Ecobank recently released a list of five hotspots for investment in Africa and Ghana is named as one of them.
This has led Mr. Heymans to note that despite declining commodity prices presenting some challenges along with severe electricity challenges, the outlook for Ghana remains positive.
DHL also conducted its own research with IHS Global Insight, an economics organisation, which shows that SMEs that trade internationally are twice as successful as those that trade only within their own market.
Partnership with Ghana Post
DHL added that it is in partnership with Ghana Post to develop local businesses. “We are in partnership with Ghana Post because DHL is a 100percent subsidiary of German Post and it is not in our interest to move and kill the local business or post. We have enough space to grow together,” Kader Coulibaly, Country Manager said.
He added that DHL goes as far as providing local partners with international routes when they want to move logistics abroad. “We always pursue a win-win situation. Domestic is not our core business and we try as much as possible to partner with local businesses so that we all grow,” he added.
Mr. Coulibaly noted that the training DHL will be offering to SMEs will be as practical as possible. “What we will be sharing is knowledge and know-how which is much more important than funds. Knowledge is for life, but funds are for a short time.”
Increasing investment
Randy Buday, DHL’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa, added that there are huge investments in the training of people, and the development of infrastructure at airports and storage hubs.
“We have storage hubs and airport infrastructure is available to support SMEs to push ahead. We remain positive about sub-Sahara and West Africa in particular and this shows through our investments in the air fleet based in Lagos as a hub and we remain positive.”