The Global Facility provided trainings to SMEs at Shea Conference 2022

Between the 6th-8th June 2022, the Private Sector Global Facility supported the Global Shea Alliance in delivering an SME training day as well as a Business to Business (B2B) session at the Shea Conference, taking place in Lomé, Togo. The conference convened 663 members of the Global Shea Alliance from 36 countries, including women's groups, retailers, suppliers, and NGOs. On the first training day, more than 100 participants from start-ups and small-sized enterprises were involved through in-person and virtual.

As the Global Facility directs its support to the Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), including women farmers in the shea industry in Ghana, it partnered with the Global Shea Alliance, a non-profit industry association that promotes sustainability for shea in food and cosmetics. For the SME training day, the Global Facility invited experts from its distinguished partner organizations, UNDP and PwC. Throughout the training session, enterprises in the shea value chain learned about sustainable business practices, tax planning, and packaging and exports.

Khulood Hindiyeh (Business Call to Action initiative, UNDP) delivered a training session on Sustainable Business Practices for SMEs. She presented business cases for demonstration of measuring and managing impacts.

SMEs possess huge potential to make positive impacts on the economies and the climate. The formal SME sector creates around 33% of the national income and 45% of the total employment in developing countries.

Gifty Andzie (PwC Ghana) provided technical instructions on Tax Planning with an overview of the types of taxes and a specific illustration of Value Added Tax. She also shared several tax planning ideas, such as incentives of tax holidays, location incentives, AfCFTA customs, and penalty and interest waiver regimes. For the tax planning of small enterprises, it is worth considering hiring an accountant, investing in tax controls, and conducting research about the local tax environment.

The meeting was brought to a successful end on 8th June, with field visits and shea expo complementary to the SME training day. We look forward to further engaging with shea enterprises and women shea farmers in the future.