Abstract:
Policy Intervention has been identified as a critical element for the growth of Ghana’s
Micro and Small Size Enterprises (SMEs) but more effective, evidence-based policy
evaluation are required to inform future interventions. This paper sought to identify the
level of adoption and use of policy interventions, factors which influence the
inaccessibility of interventions among SMEs and how these factors can be managed to
enhance the competiveness of indigenous SMEs. The study looked at policy and
intervention issues on SMEs and adopted a descriptive approach by describing the
situations and concepts related to the case under study. The study examined the overall
level of awareness, adoption and use of identified support institutions such as the
NBSSI, BAC, AGI, EMPRETEC, EDIF, GRATIS, GEPC, TECNOSERVICE, ADF,
PEF, APDF and examined how SMEs were reacting to their interventions targeted at
them. This work covered SMEs and their owner-managers in the Cape Coast
Municipality. The study was limited to a population of 47 registered SMEs within the
Municipality. The study adopted a descriptive design and randomly selected 33 SMEs,
using a simple random technique. Questionnaire was the instrument used for data
collection, using a list obtained from BAC, Cape Coast. Data collected was analyzed
using descriptive statistics. The study found that there is nothing currently like SME
policy in Ghana apart from Enterprise policy. The interventions that are being adopted
and used by these SMEs are the business development services. The study found that
most of these SMEs have a very good knowledge of these interventions and do benefit
from most of them except for financial aids which genuinely impede their business
activities. The paper recommends a holistic SME policy formulation by the
government and policymakers, also government should cushion financial institutions
in a way in which they can also encourage indigenous SMEs to access credit facilities.
