About BDF (14)
The BDS Fund is a matching grant scheme which forms part of two large projects:
- The Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Project of the Ministry of Trade and Industry of the Government of Ghana.
The Project is funded by the World Bank Group. The main objectives of the BDS Fund are to provide technical assistance support for MSMEs to improve their business operations and competitiveness.
The BDS Fund is managed by Triodos Facet B.V. (Netherlands) and SNV, Ghana.
The Objectives of the Access to Markets component of the MSME Project are to:
- Stimulate demand by eligible MSMEs for non-financial services that can improve their productivity and competitiveness
- Enable BDS providers to develop and market specialized BDS that are appropriate and affordable to MSMEs
- Improve market information and public-private dialogue through support to business associations and policy advocacy groups.
- Facilitate linkages between MSMEs and larger firms and markets through support to clusters of firms or lead firms working with such clusters of MSME suppliers.
The objectives of the Access to Finance component of the MSME Project are to:
- Increase the creditworthiness of prospective clients of the partner banks, thus increasing the number of new SME loans
- Help SMEs that have received loans from the partner banks to remain bankable, thus reducing the number of non-performing loans and increasing the growth of the firms
- Help business service providers to help expand services tailored for target SMEs, and
- Support financial institutions that wish to develop and expand term lending to SMEs or to develop additional financial instruments suitable for SMEs.
Business Development Services Fund
Published in About BDF Written by Web Master
The MSME sector in Ghana represents around 30% of the workforce but contributes to around only 6% of the GDP. The Government of Ghana realizes that the development of this sector is imperative to realizing its growth and poverty reduction goals.
However, the MSME sector continues to experience difficulties in accessing financial services. They do not have sufficient access to know-how, information, and research and development to innovate and remain competitive. Their access to public contracts and subcontracts is limited, arising from cumbersome bidding procedures. Their limited international market exposure, low product quality, default in compliance with standards, and little access to international partnerships impede MSME participation into global markets. In addition, inefficient distribution channels often dominated by large firms also make it difficult for SMEs to access markets.
Additionally, despite the impressive developments in the ICT sector, and the government’s efforts to improve sector performance and responsiveness, there still remain key challenges that constrain the government’s efforts to use ICT to generate accelerated growth in general, and particularly to develop an ITES (information technology enabled services) sector and improve government service delivery.
It is in the light of these challenges that the World Bank Group (WBG) is supporting the implementation of the MSME Project, which aims among other things, at narrowing the identified gaps through interventions that support MSMEs’ access to financial and non-financial services and that address technical barriers to trade. The WBG is also supporting the Government to implement the eGhana Project, which also aims at diversifying its sources of economic growth within a transparent, accountable and efficient government, and has identified the ICT-related services.
The MSME Project specifically aims to enhance the competitive and employment levels of Ghanaian MSMEs. This goal will be achieved by:
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Building an integrated market access and trade facilitation infrastructure;
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Proactively supporting entrepreneurship development;
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Developing and strengthening, on a sustainable basis, the capacity of local intermediaries to deliver financial and non-financial services to MSMEs and the capacity of MSMEs to make productive use of these services;
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Reducing selected business constraints, including technical barriers to trade, faced by MSMEs;
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Providing an enabling environment (access to finance, access to markets, and trade facilitation infrastructure) to boost increased investments in the MSME sector; and
- Enhancing the facilitation, project development, and implementation roles of the Government.
The MSME Project will support interventions directed at specific priority sectors (such as agribusiness, construction, furniture, and textiles, horticulture, tourism) and interventions directed at broader market issues (such as access to information and export promotion activities).
Technical support to the MSMEs through a matching grant scheme, which pays for up to 50% of the cost of eligible services required to address any of the challenges (and more) identified above.
Starting New Ventures for a Current Business
Published in About BDF Written by Web Master
You have a great idea and are ready to begin building your business, but how do you know where to start? What are the first steps that you should take? Below are a few tips to get you started in the right direction.
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As a result of the different windows of the BDS Fund, this section will be discussed under those different windows, namely, Access to Finance, Access to Markets and eGhana. Generally, the target beneficiaries
- Must, in principle, be privately owned. Certain exceptions, e.g. training institutions, may be appropriate and can be approved on a case by case basis
- Should not be in receipt of financial support from any other source for the activities for which they are seeking support from the BDS Fund
- Should be in a position to commence the project within three months of receipt of service
- Must show a commitment to sustainable development in the short to medium term and demonstrate a planned approach to achieving their objectives
- Must be registered businesses in Ghana
- Read about the eligibility criterial for the various different windows;
All eligible approved costs under the scheme will be shared 50:50 between the beneficiary company and the BDS Fund for first time applications. Cost sharing for repeat applications will be on a graduated basis. This is because such beneficiaries may, after benefiting from the first grant, appreciate the use of such services, and must be willing to pay increasingly more for similar services.
The Fund will pay 50% of the approved eligible costs within the constraint of the grant limits per applicant. The cost sharing contribution of SMEs may be lowered in the case of specialized services (e.g. testing and certification, logistics management and bar coding, supply chain management, subcontracting/outsourcing, international marketing and international financing) that are available through international firms but at prohibitive costs. As equivalent local services become available, the contribution of the beneficiary would be increased. Firms who have benefited from reduced contributions that submit repeat applications for matching grants for similar activities will be expected to meet the full 50% cost sharing contribution.
- Market Research
- International Market Visits
- E-commerce & Selling, Website Development
- Advertising and Promotion
- Sales Literature, promotional materials
- Quality Management Improvement
- Acquisition of Quality Standards and Certification
- Product/Service Development
- Product Testing
- Production Efficiency
- Training to build competitiveness
- Pre-financing services to help high-potential clients access loans from the Line of Credit and Credit guarantee components
- Developing MSME Support Service
- Developing Services to enhance dialogue with Government
- Developing market linkage programmes for groups of eligible companies
The prospective applicant reads Fund brochure and other relevant information, and may visit the Fund offices for support to determine the eligibility of the intended solution to the business problem for which the grant is being sought
- Applicant discusses the business problem needing a solution with the RO and antennae dedicated staff and draws up a PO developed standardised Terms of Reference for grant assistance.
- The applicant will discuss the TOR with three consultants (this may be done in the presence of the Regional Office staff) and request for technical and financial proposal from each consultant
- Applicant completes grant application form
- Applicants submits a completed application form and technical and financial proposals together with other relevant documentation to the Fund Regional Office (applicant must indicate its preference of consultant. Where there are significant differences in financial proposal, applicant must justify its choice)
- The Fund Officer checks the content of the application dossier and clarifies, asks for more information if necessary
- Fund Officer registers application together with all enclosed documents and sends complete application dossier by registered mail to the Project Office and keeps a copy for the file
- At the Project Office, the Administrator receives and registers the application, assigning a unique reference code
- The Administrator enters relevant application information on the MIS
- The Administrator checks the document that:
- All required portions of the form are filled correctly
- All documentary requirements have been met
- The Administrator sends the application dossier to the business development services specialist for evaluation
BDF Resources - Feel Free to Download
Grant Application Form- For Financial Institutions: PDF Version - Word Version | _ | Grant Application Form- For Companies: PDF Version - Word Version
Grant Application Form- For Associations: PDF Version - Word Version | __ | Service Provider Registration Form: PDF Version - Word Version |
Application Process: PDF Version - Word Version | __ | BDS Fund Concept Note: PDF Version - Word Version | __ | List of 2011 Service Providers: PDF Version |