Businesses could collapse if ‘dumsor’ persists – Chamber of young entrepreneurs

The Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs has expressed worry about the current power outages experienced nationwide.

According to the CEO of the chamber, Sherif Ghali, many small and medium businesses face the risk of downsizing or folding up if the situation continues.

Mr. Ghali indicated that the development was taking a toll on the cost of operations of private businesses.

“To be honest with you, these are all the small things that happen, and businesses collapse. Imagine a young person who runs a barbering shop. A young person who runs a cold store, how would they operate?” he quizzed.

He said the situation is becoming dire and frustrating for young start-ups and businesses.

“Today, we launched the young entrepreneur co-working spaces. If not for fossil fuels and a generator, we wouldn’t have been able to do the programme because all of a sudden, electricity went off.”

The co-working space will offer budding entrepreneurs and start-ups with affordable office and meeting space to run their businesses.

The space, which is fully equipped with internet service and a power plant, will also provide mentorship and networking sessions to aid the growth of the SME sector.

Consumers have been experiencing unstable power supply in various parts of the country.

Consequently, the Minority in Parliament, civil society organisations (CSOs), and energy sector players have called for an ECG load-shedding timetable to help citizens plan their daily activities.

In a speech in commemoration of May Day, President Akufo-Addo revealed that the hard work of government officials has ensured a constant power supply within the last few days despite challenges in the energy sector.

“I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to Ghanaians for their patience and understanding during the recent temporary challenges with electricity supply across the country.”

“Indeed, over the past few days, we have witnessed stable electricity supply across the country with no load-shedding reported anywhere yesterday.”

“For the past seven years, we have worked tirelessly to keep the lights on, and I am confident that the unfortunate era of dumsor will not return,” he added.