Some informal sector business owners and operators in the Upper East Region have received training on digital marketing, to take advantage of the revolution in the media space to boost operations and increase revenue.
The participants, consisting of smock and basket weavers, leather craft dealers, hairdressers, and dressmakers among other artisans, also received training on financial management and tips to attract and retain customers.
The training was organised by Mobile Telecommunication Network Ghana (MTN Ghana) as part of its annual 21-day MTN Yellocare, which seeks to support communities and societies as part of giving back to their customers.
Mr Martin Yaw Kumobah, the Upper East Regional Branch Manager of MTN Ghana, explained that the programme was a community-based project initiated by its staff to be held annually in June, to identify societal needs and support in their redress.
He said over the years the company had undertaken several activities including teaching and communal labour across the country.
He noted that although the revolution of the media space, including the emergence of the new media, had created numerous opportunities for business operators to market their products and services, the opportunities had not been tapped, especially by the informal sector.
Apart from that, he said, all aspects of every economy were gradually moving towards digitalisation and it was imperative that no one was left behind, especially in the financial sector.
“These artisans and craft dealers are doing a lot, but people are not hearing from them, so we want to impact their efforts so that their products and services can be seen across the globe,” he said.
The company had chosen to educate informal sector business owners and operators on how to use social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp twitter, YouTube among others to market their products and services locally, nationally, and globally to increase their client base.
“Secondly, we are also interested in how they manage their customers and so we gave them training on how they would better handle their customers and grow their customer base. We also gave them basic financial training such as budget drawing and record keeping among others” he said.
Mr Godwin Alebira Asimba, the Founder of Jah Throne Production Enterprise, a participant who deals in leather crafts, lauded MTN Ghana for the training, saying the skills acquired would help attract a market for their products.
He said he was not aware that there were numerous opportunities on social media platforms that one could tap, to increase sales and revenue and underscored the need for other business operators to increase digital marketing to boost their businesses.
Ms Hawa Shaibu, another participant and a fashion designer, said apart from the online business which had the potential to increase her customer base, the financial management training and record keeping education, would enable her to manage her capital to avoid losses.
She appealed to MTN Ghana to extend the training to cover all operators in the informal sector to help rope in more people into the digital economy.
Source: GNA
