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Welcome...
We are SME Relief
Foundation and we are here to
support SME entrepreneurs with
the resources they need to develop their business ideas and skills more expeditiously for the good of
the
society.
Browse all our programs.
About the Foundation
SME Relief Foundation is a non-profit, non-governmental organization based in Ghana whose founding is based on the realization
that SME entrepreneurship is vital to creating jobs and enhancing the
quality of life of all people.
The Foundation's objective is to support
the SME entrepreneur with the resources
he needs to
develop his business ideas and knowledge and skills more expeditiously for
the good of society.
The Foundation is based in Accra and was founded by Samuel
Apea-Danquah and registered as a public charity foundation with registration
number G-26,060 under the Ghana company's code 1963 (Act 179) in October
2008.
Although many NGOs tend to help the deprived and
oppressed in society, SME Relief Foundation is focused on
energizing the 'business lights' in society (no matter their status) with
the expectation that they would lift society by their socio-economic
activities. In other words, the Foundation seeks to provide the support that keeps giving and keeping the
foundations
of economies strong through the creation of jobs
and the provision of quality products and services.
The Foundation's mission is to support SME
entrepreneurship for sustainable development.
Our vision is to be the
organization that
provides the fostering and support needed to churn out more successful SME
entrepreneurs.
How we work
SME Relief Foundation is governed by a board of directors
appointed by the founder and is managed on a daily basis by a management team comprising mainly of
the heads of our standing committees, a secretary and the Executive
Director.
Our standing committees, listed below, are the pillars of an organized structure
which enable us function effectively and efficiently as a unit to achieve
our mission.
- Volunteer welfare committee - This committee manages the
welfare of volunteers who provide expertise to beneficiaries.
- Resources committee - This committee manages the equipments
and facilities donated to or acquired by the foundation.
- Finance committee - This committee manages the finances of
the foundation. They are responsible for raising, managing and
disbursing funds.
- Programs committee - This committee is responsible for the
implementation and running of all our programs.
- Implementation and supervisory committee - This committee monitors and
supervises businesses being undertaken by our beneficiaries.
- Media and advocacy committee - This committee is devoted to media
management and public relations. They are also responsible for running
advocacy programs and lobbying decision-makers.
- Patrons and membership committee - This committee recruits
new members and manages existing ones, seeks patrons and maintains them.
- Administrative committee - This committee is responsible for the
general administration of the foundation, its expansion and the
provision of logistics to all its arms.
- Consultative committee - This committee screens and approves
proposals and requests for assistance. They also approve projects to be
initiated by the foundation.
- Business services committee - This committee is in
charge of setting up and managing projects, business services and
income-generating activities.
Reasons people donate
or volunteer- I want to donate some money.
- I want to donate office equipment.
- I want to act on feelings of global responsibility.
- I want to share my wealth and blessings.
- I believe in SME Relief Foundation and want to support the organization's work.
- I have always wanted to sponsor an SME and now is the time.
- I want to encourage others to identify with poor people.
- I want to make a difference.
- I want to help SMEs in different countries.
- I want to volunteer my service to those who needs it.
- I have an unused space I would like to give out permanently or
temporarily to SME Relief Foundation to be used as a Resource Centre.
- I have items I do not use any more and I think some SME
entrepreneur may have some use
for it.
- My company wants to dispose off its used equipments and I would like SME
Relief Foundation to acquire it for SME Entrepreneurs who could use it.
- I have a little-used vehicle SME Relief Foundation can use for
logistics.
- Someday, I believe my child will want to be an entrepreneur and I want
SME Relief Foundation to attain its vision and be there for him when he
needs them.
- I want to give to a foundation whose mission is to encourage and
support small businesses since SMEs are the engine of growth of any
economy.
- I got some loose change after shopping and I would want to donate that
to charity.
- I believe in supporting entrepreneurs and giving them the
opportunity to prove themselves.
- I want to support SME Relief Foundation support SME entrepreneurs
for sustainable development.
- I have knowledge and information which could be of use to the
foundation and for a particular project.
- I wish to volunteer my expertise and time to the foundation's cause for
3 months or less.
- Hey! I can volunteer my expertise (legal, accounting, medical, etc)
for a couple of weeks while visiting another country and experiencing
their culture!
- I have an estate with no one to give it to or even will it to.
Send us
another reason why people should donate or volunteer.
SME Relief Foundation is intent on changing lives and making it easier for
entrepreneurs to start and maintain Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in
all countries.
We currently have a physical presence in the following
countries:
- Ghana
To help us open an office in your country, kindly use this
form.
Press / Media Center
We are currently reconstructing the press / media center
(home of our blogs, reports, news, events, photo gallery,
videos, press releases, etc).
Please come back again soon!
We are sorry for the inconvenience caused.
Thank you!
We have received your kind donation through PayPal and are grateful for your generosity.
It is our hope that you continue to support causes such as these.
Most donors know that SME entrepreneurship is the answer to finding lasting solutions to poverty, hunger and injustice
since the socio-economic activities of whole communities revolve around
small and medium-sized enterprises.
SMEs bring employment to their constituents and sometimes provide
social amenities such as healthcare facilities for the community. This is
why SME Relief Foundation works to strengthen individual, institutional, and community capacity — empowering more people in more places to build and maintain better lives and futures.
We thank you once again for supporting us as we pursue a
cause that sparks innovation, fresh approaches to problems and their resolutions..
We thank you!
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Make a Donation
"I can feel guilty about the past,
apprehensive about the future, but only in the present can I act." Abraham
Maslow.
Most people get to the point where they start
to look for useful ways of giving some of their money away and our
foundation is willing to accept such contributions.
Any form of donation is
acceptable if it can be practically useful. So IMPACT YOUR WORLD by supporting the next
SME entrepreneur with a donation of as little as $5.00, any equipment (new
or used), your expertise, an office space, etc.
To donate a resource other than money, contact us for
directions. To donate money online (using PayPal or Credit Card), use the form below:
Your donation will help support
entrepreneurs in making a
lasting difference in the country's development.
If you would like to make regular donations to support SME Relief
Foundation, please contact us for
directions.
To send money via SWIFT wire transfer, direct deposit or
cheque, use the details below:
Account name: SME Relief Foundation
Account number: 0100137572000
Bank: Standard Chartered Bank
Branch: Dansoman
SWIFT Code: SCBLGHAC
You may also make a donation via Western Union,
Money Gram or Vigo. Please contact us for
directions.
Get Involved
You can be a part of SME Relief Foundation or
help in its cause by becoming any one or more of the following:
- Member - a member will be the
individual who believes in the cause of the foundation and is willing to
help steer its course.
Membership is only open to individuals
and there are three categories.
| category |
dues (USD $) /year |
points (pt) |
| standard |
10 |
1 |
| supporting |
20 |
3 |
| lifetime |
100 |
5 |
Benefits:
- free pass to all resource centers
- unlimited access to free resources
- voting points to support projects, programs and activities
- scoring points to support prospective beneficiaries
- discounts on events or programs such as seminars, conferences, etc
Become A Member
- Patron - a patron will be any distinguished
individual who supports our cause and desires to fulfill a conscientious
obligation
of giving back to society by aiding the foundation in the pursuit of its
objective.
Patrons will receive a citation in
the most respected local newspaper and a certificate of commendation
each year.
Patrons are categorized in 5 levels according to their
annual financial contribution to the foundation.
| category |
annual contribution (USD
$) |
| 1-star patron |
500 |
| 2-star patron |
1,000 |
| 3-star patron |
5,000 |
| 4-star patron |
10,000 |
| 5-star patron |
50,000 |
Become A Patron
- Donor - a donor will be any person or group of
persons (or organization) that makes a financial or non-financial
contribution or gives a gift to the foundation without return consideration.
SMEs vary in their nature of business.
It is therefore likely that
most resources may have some practical use for at least some start-ups.
Donations may therefore
include:
- cash,
- services,
- new or used goods,
- vehicles,
- office space, warehouses and accommodation,
- equipments such as machinery, computers, office equipment,
- furniture and other infrastructure or
- products such as educational, health care, construction, raw
materials
etc.
Make A Donation
- Volunteer - a volunteer is anyone who freely
devotes his time and expertise to the activities of the foundation.
Volunteering is a great way to help our cause while meeting people who
respect and have a direct
need for your expertise. It can also be an exciting adventure when it
involves providing assistance outside one's country - helping you
discover other cultures while you impart unto beneficiaries your knowledge and
skills and culture.
As a volunteer, you would actually be part of the team that will make
some aspiring entrepreneur's business a viable company in future;
propelling it to become the next
Microsoft or
Google.
Expertise SME Entrepreneurs could use include consulting
services such as:
- management and accounting
- grant writing
- advertising, marketing and promotion
- legal and taxation
- finance and strategic planning
- information and communication technology
- public relations services
- project design, system and business development, etc
Become
A Volunteer
- Sponsor - a sponsor will be the individual or group
that supports our programs financially or through the provision of products or services.
Sponsorship may be arranged in exchange for advertising.
Available sponsorship opportunities include title sponsorship for
most of our programs; example, The XYZ company Incubator Program
for Women.
Sponsors are mainly expected to provide
financial support to support components of our programs such as capital
costs, feasibility studies, project start-up costs, purchasing of assets, etc.
When sponsorship is in kind, sponsor may guarantee the
foundation the use of its corporate services/facilities such as
financial and administrative support services, meeting space, mailing
services, computer services, printing and duplicating etc.
Become A Sponsor
- Partner -
a partner will be the individual or group (or
government) that seeks, supports and engages in meaningful alliances and
will provide grants or expertise to assist the foundation in its work.
We search for
and work with partners to leverage as many elements as possible to
maximize opportunities for success. If you are interested in being a partner,
please
use the appropriate link below.
If you know a foundation, department or agency
that makes available grants and is requesting an RFP (Request for Proposal)
or LOI (Letter of Inquiry), kindly use the alert option.
What we do
The Foundation provides assistance to entrepreneurs and their businesses in a
way that many entrepreneurs find convenient and most enabling. We not only provide capital, but
facilities, support, information and expertise as well.
SME Relief Foundation works via strategic,
complimentary, capacity-building programs in order to achieve its objective of supporting SME
entrepreneurs.
The Foundation assists SME entrepreneurs by adopting a think tank approach and looking
for synergies between the ideas, products and technologies being developed
in order to grow their business ideas and enterprises faster.
This approach fosters the growth of these new ideas and subsequently, the
business and allows for SME entrepreneurs to emerge in greater numbers and
with far greater skill.
SME Relief Foundation believes that all the entrepreneur needs to succeed is the right
information, funding, facility or expertise at the right time and we are
here to facilitate that process.
Business Development
- Resource Centers - SME Relief Foundation sets up resource
centers furnished with the right tools and training personnel to
offer relevant information and facilities to the entrepreneurs in their
localities.
These setups also allow for entrepreneurs to conduct research and learn
new ways of doing what they do.
Resource centers also bring equipments and expertise together to set up
business-catalyzing projects, business services and income-generating activities.
- Incubators - SME Relief Foundation runs incubator programs
that permit and encourage the formation and development of new business
ideas.
We provide financing, management expertise, office services, office
space, logistics, marketing expertise and more importantly, unlimited
access and usage of our resource centers.
- Networking - We help form productive business linkages that
tend to stimulate business flow and useful supply chains.
We do this by introducing businesses to
each other at senior, decision-making levels and organizing interactive
fairs and symposia.
Financing
- Micro credit - SME Relief Foundation extends these very small
loans to the unemployed, to poor entrepreneurs and to others living in
poverty who are probably not considered bankable.
These would-be entrepreneurs lack the necessary collateral, steady
employment and a verifiable credit history and therefore cannot meet
even the most minimal qualifications to gain access to traditional
credit.
These are the loans that change lives; enabling people buy such things as sewing machines,
milking cows, brooding hens, head pan or a bunch of plantain for sale
and thereby enter the economy in the productive sense.
As a guiding principle, all loans are required to be repaid to instill a
sense of responsibility and accountability in the entrepreneur.
- Equity financing - With strong emphasis on 'for a limited
period of time', we make loans available to usually medium-sized business
owners in exchange for equity in their business for a limited period of
time.
Business owners of this type usually have long-term goals, do not meet
bank requirements for loans and like to retain control of their
businesses so do not resort to venture capital funds.
What we do here is offer them the loan on request in exchange for equity
in their company. They are not given a fixed
period to repay the loan, however they must pay profits to sustain
the program until they
are able to repay the loan. After the loan is repaid, the equity stake
of SME Relief Foundation is returned to the business owner.
As a guiding principle, SME Relief Foundation does not set up businesses
and does not hold equity permanently in businesses.
This initiative is now affectionately referred to as FALPO Equity Financing.
Advocacy
-
Policy -
We advocate for business-friendly policies and healthy business environments
from government and public policy makers.
We also try to positively influence government policy, corporate policy and public opinion regarding our mission.
-
Education - We advocate
entrepreneurship especially to the youth, unemployed and people with special
needs.
We try to inculcate in these potential entrepreneurs, the rugged mentality
and multiple dispositions required to be a successful entrepreneur.
We do this through capacity building seminars and conferences.
We also run regular workshops that
impart practical, useful and relevant skills to those seeking to be
entrepreneurs at our resource centers.
Founder's Message
Great businesses that form the bedrock of major economies around the
world today had humble beginnings as SMEs championed by skillful and relentless
entrepreneurs. These businesses employ people, keep societies together by
their socio-economic activities and advance living standards through
innovation in their products and services.
It is not uncommon to read about people who pay over $5,000 for the
opportunity to travel to more advanced countries to look for jobs. Most entrepreneurs
have managed to start relatively prosperous endeavors for under one-tenth of
that figure.
These are people endowed with rich ideas and the spirit to
make things happen and would start a business even with as little as nothing
but persuasion and some expertise. For the typical entrepreneur,
it does not necessarily require the ideal to
accomplish most great things.
It is a usual story to hear an entrepreneur
encounter tough times but as a man needs a wife (even the most
resourced man) so do most entrepreneurs need some reliable support at one
time or the other in the life of their enterprises.
It could be argued that the rigors of entrepreneurship is
a refining process that may eventually guard and guide the
entrepreneur however SME Relief Foundation intends to forestall the preventable hardships
that the
entrepreneur may otherwise have to endure - teaching the lessons
normally learnt the hard way and providing the resources that take ages to
acquire due to bureaucracy.
It is the output of the individual
that transforms society - it is his vision, his drive and his love for what
he believes in that brings the change society needs. This reality informed
the set up of SME Relief
Foundation and it is what must spur all to support a cause such as this.
Samuel Apea-Danquah
Jobs and Career Opportunities
There are currently no openings at SME Relief Foundation.
Terms of Use
The use of this site is subject to the following Terms of
Use:
- Your use of the site constitutes acceptance of these
Terms of Use.
- You agree to use this site only for lawful purposes,
and in a manner which does not infringe the rights of SME Relief
Foundation or any third party or the use and enjoyment of the site by
any third party.
- Except for death or personal injury arising through
our negligence, SME Relief Foundation shall in no event be liable for
any damages including, without limitation, direct, indirect or
consequential damages, whatsoever arising from or in connection with the
use or loss of use of the site, or any content on the site.
- SME Relief Foundation can change these Terms of Use
at any time by posting changes online under this section “Terms of Use”.
Your continued use of this site after changes have been posted
constitutes acceptance of the modified terms.
- SME Relief Foundation does not guarantee that the
site’s facilities and functions will be free from error or
uninterrupted, that the site or the server that makes it available to
you are free of viruses or bugs, that defects will be corrected, or that
the content on the site is accurate or complete.
- SME Relief Foundation takes no responsibility for the
content of external Internet sites linked to or cited on this site.
- Any communication or material that you transmit to,
or post on any public area of this site will be treated as
non-confidential and non-proprietary information unless otherwise stated
by SME Relief Foundation. We reserve the right to remove without notice
any material posted in any public area of the site.
- These terms of use shall be governed by and construed
in accordance with the laws of Ghana. Any disputes shall be subject to
the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of Ghana.
If you do not accept these Terms of Use in full, you must
stop using this site immediately. We reserve the right to prevent you
accessing this site, without prejudice to any of our other rights, if we
consider that you have contravened any of these Terms of Use.
January 2009
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