The Member of Parliament (MP) for
Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong, has called on commercial banks to reduce
interest rates to stimulate economic activity.
“Interest
rates in Ghana are very ridiculous and make it virtually impossible for local
businesses to compete favourably with foreign companies,” he said.
Mr
Agyapong made the call during an engagement with students of the School of
Business of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in
Kumasi last Tuesday.
Dubbed: “Practitioners’ engagement on
entrepreneurship competencies”, the event, which was organised by the School of
Business, in collaboration with the Kumasi Business Incubator, was aimed at
providing a platform for the students to learn from industry players some of
the skills and qualities needed to survive as entrepreneurs.
Mr
Agyapong, who is also a businessman, indicated that most commercial banks added
their profit margins to the loans they gave out, which ended up raising the
interest rates.
“Many
businesses have been complaining about this,” he said, adding that the
high-interest rates were the reason most Ghanaian companies would rather import
finished goods, instead of producing them locally.
Development
Bank
Mr
Agyapong urged the newly launched Development Bank of Ghana (DBG) to deal
directly with businesses and not give the money to commercial banks for onward
lending to businesses.
He
said it would be better for the DBG to deal with the private sector and lend
the money to that sector at a cheaper rate than pass it through the commercial
banks.
According
to him, the objective of the DBG of supporting the private sector with cheaper
loans would not be achieved if it had to channel the loans through a third
party.
Get rich syndrome
Mr Agyapong advised the youth against
the rush to make it in life, adding it was important for them to bide their
time.
He
said becoming successful did not come overnight but required a lot of sacrifice
and hard work.
According
to him, to be able to succeed as an entrepreneur, one needed to be trustworthy,
ambitious and hardworking.
However, he said, most of the youth
today were in a rush to drive the latest cars and would do anything to acquire
those things.
“Most
entrepreneurs had to go through sleepless nights and years of savings to be
able to be where they are today,” the MP said, and asked the students to build
the culture of savings and learn to sacrifice their comfort today for a better
tomorrow.
Humility
The Chief Executive Officer of Uni-jay
Limited, a fashion and design enterprise, Janet Abobigu, who was a panellist on
the programme, called on the youth, particularly the females, to humble
themselves and learn from their peers.
She
said irrespective of their levels of education and statuses in life, they would
meet people who knew better than they and should be humble enough to allow
themselves to be taught.
Mrs
Abobigu said even though the world was fighting for gender equality, the fact
remained that it was a man’s world and so women should not go about trying to
rub shoulders with men and trying to prove that they (women) were better.
According
to her, women should be able to use their feminism to get men to carry them
along to let women’s work speak for them.
The
entrepreneur explained that it was not possible for the youth to do everything;
what mattered was to have ideas, the necessary support and finance, adding:
“You get people to make your ideas work for you.”
Trust
She
reiterated the importance of trust in business, saying it was the only currency
that sustained businesses.
She
said if one could not be trusted, it would be impossible for people to do
business with him or her or even for one to get credit to expand one’s
operations.
Therefore,
Mrs Abobigu called on the youth, particularly those willing to go into
entrepreneurship, to always honour their promises.
Source:Graphic.com.gh