Accra, 15 September 2021 – Invest in Africa (IIA), a not-for-profit organisation focused on growing local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across sub-Saharan Africa, has been selected by Tullow Ghana Limited to implement its recently launched Financial Readiness programme.

The Financial Readiness programme is an eight-month programme, launched in August 2021, with the goal of assisting suppliers in the oil and gas industry to build financially resilient and sustainable businesses for the future.

IIA will provide selected suppliers with financial tool kits that will enhance their interactions with lending institutions and offer 150 SMEs access to various funding options, as well as insights into financial restructuring opportunities.

Alongside hosting workshops, IIA will offer more tailored, one-to-one business advisory support to Tullow Ghana’s larger suppliers. These will be delivered on the back of a successful track record of similar interventions led by IIA.

Speaking on the potential impact of the programme, IIA Ghana’s Country Director Carol Annang said: “In many ways, the pandemic has reshaped how we conduct business. Its ramifications on financing for Ghanaian SMEs may be felt many years down the line, so even though this programme has a short-term outlook, its overall contribution to these SMEs will be much longer lasting. This is something both IIA and Tullow Ghana can appreciate, given our shared commitment to strengthening local supply chains.”

Wissam Al Monthiry, Managing Director of Tullow Ghana, on his part, said “As a company, the development of local capacity for participation in the oil and gas industry remains our priority. Central to developing local participation, is the ability of our local supply chain to remain financially resilient to continue participating in delivering oil and gas services to our operations. This Financial Readiness programme will add to our goal of ensuring a financially stable supplier base that is globally competitive”.

With one of the sub-region’s highest rates of access to energy, increasing demand and rapid urbanisation, Senegal’s energy sector is regionally advanced. This is apparent in a domestic setting as well as industrially, as manufacturing expands and the economy diversifies.

To prop up this progress, requires tip top utility infrastructure. Fast-growing electrical installation company, Meltec, is keenly aware of the opportunity. Created in 2014, they had no choice but to outpace development of their more established competitors and have done so methodically since launching, with annual turnover growing 15%, on average.

Meltec’s commitment to customer satisfaction ensures design and installation of electrical systems is of the highest standard. All areas of involvement are thoroughly considered to enhance efficiency and competitiveness for their clients, offering an excellent end-to-end service across a range of project requirements from industry to tertiary. Meltec’s areas of operations are also aligned to service growing sectors like renewable energy and IT networks.

Leading the forward-thinking company into this decade and beyond is the dynamic Khadime Thioune. Leveraging his experience in project management, he plans to scale operations, and rapidly. By 2022, Khadime wants to double Meltec’s profits. With a fourfold increase in the workforce and turnover of USD2m, the company is following the right growth trajectory.

Meltec’s partnership with IIA is crucial in realising this growth. During the pandemic, tailored business coaching support encouraged Meltec to target the country’s lucrative oil & gas sector – in which Khadime wants to play in influential role. Through IIA, Meltec has plugged into a network of well-established multinationals with a Senegalese footprint. Meltec is involved in the construction of the Halliburton LMP platform in the country’s capital, Dakar, contracted by Sepco.

Despite the range of business challenges, an undeterred ambition and IIA support ensures Meltec protects its dream of national development. It continues to make huge strides in its quest to provide good-paying, sustainable jobs for the nation’s youth, and eventually the wider region – with the help of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.