The National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) is advising businesses that have applied for the GHS1 billion COVID-19 Alleviation Programme Business Support Scheme to provide the right and accurate information for assessment so that their applications are not turned down.

According to its Executive Director, Dr Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, there had been some wrong information provided by some applicants captured in its data, saying such circumstances will disqualify them from getting part of the facility.

“If one does not provide enough or accurate information, or when they verified the information it was found to be wrong or fraudulent, they will not get the facility. When we look into our data now, some people have registered for 100 people with his bank account alone or MoMo account given to two or more people or TIN number given to two or more people. The system will block you automatically”, she told Accra100.5FM’s Morning Show on Thursday, 4 June 2020.

She said it will take two weeks for risk assessments to be completed to see whether or not the applicant qualifies.

She urged petty traders who are qualified and affected by the coronavirus pandemic to access the COVID-19 Alleviation Programme Business Support Scheme to rejuvenate their business.

Dr Yankey-Ayeh said the COVID-19 facility is an emergency fund that is to help revitalise businesses that have been impacted significantly by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“If you are a trader, a taxi driver who has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, if you are able to explain better, we can give you some support. It’s, however, not everybody that will get the support. So, I’m appealing to businesses to apply for an amount that is practically easy to get.”

“What we are doing is not only money that we are giving, we will also be giving technical support to the associations, their members so that they rejuvenate their businesses. We are preparing them so they stand firm going forward,” she pointed out.

She advised the applicants to provide the right information so their applications are not turned down.

About 180,000 businesses are expected to receive part of the GHS1 billion fund with an interest of about 3% on the facility.