GIZ Ghana’s ‘Investing For Employment’ initiative will play a critical role in the country’s attempt to revamp and pharmaceutical industry in Ghana and also help reduce youth unemployment. ‘Investing For Employment (IFE Ghana)’ is an initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) which is being implemented by GIZ.

The initiative wants to support the pharmaceutical industry through Ghana National Chamber of Pharmacy with 1 million to 10 million euros to help revamp, support and create more jobs in the pharmaceutical industry.

In the Chairman of Ghana National Chamber of Pharmacy, Pharm. Harrison Abutiate opening address, he stated that Ghana National Chamber of Pharmacy (GNCoP) is the unified voice of Pharma industry of Ghana and that the Chamber advocates, connects, inform and fight for pharmaceutical growth in Ghana. He then went on to recap a meeting with Bank of Ghana (BOG) to deliberate on BOG’s credit referencing system since they chamber believes that dealing with credible clients will enhance our financial fortunes. He proceeded to welcome the Investing For Employment (IFE) team and thanked them for making time to meet members of the chamber to further explain and present on how members of the chamber can take advantage of this grant.

“GNCoP welcomes this collaboration with IFE to have this workshop on co-financing projects, so that our members will have a hands-on experience in sourcing for funds for their projects,” Pharm. Harrison Abutiate  added.

The Team Lead for ‘Investing For Employment’, Mr. Ato Simpson, presented and explained to participants the processes involved with the application, the duration and how best his team can guide the chamber if they are ready to secure this grant.

“This will both empower Ghana’s determined Pharmaceutical Industry and also create more jobs within the industry. The country’s youth unemployment rate at 12% and underemployment rate at 50%, are both higher than the overall unemployment rates in Sub-Saharan African countries (World Bank, 2021),” he remarked.

During Mr. Ato Simpson’s presentation he highlighted on the points below:

• All applicants must be legal entities registered in a country in Africa or Europe (being a member country of the European Union or the European Free Trade Association). Applicants based outside the Partner Country may submit Concept Notes only in partnership/consortium with project partners registered and operational in the Partner Country.
• IFE will generally not finance the entire cost of a project, but will provide co-financing to supplement the resources mobilized by the applicant and its project partners. The degree of co-financing available will vary between 25% and 90% depending on the project type (see details and further modalities in the Applicant Guidelines for the respective Call for Proposals).
• The co-financing contributions will be typically for amounts between 1 million and 10 million euros (or equivalent in the local currency of the Partner Country). Projects which require a co-financing contribution above or below this range will not qualify for funding.
• IFE provides funding in the form of grants. This means the amounts do not need to be reimbursed, as long as the applicant uses them for the contractually agreed purpose and in accordance with the procurement principles stated in the financing agreement.
• IFE will disburse its funding in foreign currency (Euro). Applicants whose projects require funding in the local currency of the Partner Country may receive the grant amount in the same currency, whereby the mode of currency conversion will be specified in the financing agreements. In any event, the grant amounts will be contractually denominated in Euro and cannot be topped up depending on exchange rate developments.
• IFE will disburse its funding contribution in tranches. The exact disbursement schedules will be defined for each project individually. Applicants will need to provide their contractually agreed co-contribution usually also at the same tranche dates as a condition for IFE’s disbursements.
• If the project entails the acquisition of equipment, machinery or services from a third party supplier, IFE can disburse its contribution directly to such supplier. The rules and processes for the procurement of goods and services will be defined in the financing agreement and will be in line with international best practices.

“In addition to the financial contribution, IFE will also be able to support selected grantees on a technical level, e.g., through consultancy or other services which may be needed to ensure a successful preparation and/or operational implementation of the project. The expenditures for such selective technical support services can be funded in addition to the agreed financing contribution,” he concluded.

Country Focal Point -IFE Ghana, Mrs. Adwoa Larbi said her outfit will continue to equip and educate the chamber with the help needed to go through the grant process.

According to her, this workshop focuses on the integral formation of the chamber members acquiring the knowledge needed to go through the process.

“IFE GHANA has a role to this transformation agenda with a responsibility to find out what the pharma industry needs. This way, the Chamber can better equip with the knowledge needed to meet the grant requirements,” she explained.

The collaboration between Ghana National Chamber of Pharmacy and Investing For Employment (IFE) focuses on helping the Chamber members go through the requirement process to be able to secure the grant which will revamp the industry whiles helping to promote employment.

However, she fears this will not be achieved if members worked in isolation and will be happy if the chamber work hand in hand to secure this grant.

About IFE

The Facility Investing for Employment (IFE) is an investment Facility created by KfW Development Bank (KfW) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) as an integral part of the Special Initiative “Decent Work for a Just Transition”. For more information regarding the Special Initiative and its range of offerings, please visit its website Invest for Jobs.

IFE provides co-financing grants for new investment projects with a high job creation impact. The selection of projects is based on a competitive application process. IFE looks for an optimal allocation of available funding to projects with the highest plausibility of success and expected return in terms of the number and quality of new jobs created.

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