The Project Implementation Unit, World Bank Growth and Employment Project (GEM) has assured stakeholders its funded project is on course in the country.
The Unit, in a statment yesterday, said contrary to insinuations to the contrary, GEM, a $160million World Bank-funded project, being implemented by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI), is a success story. It said it has contributed to the diversification of the economy, by supporting sectors that have high growth potential and creating massive employment.
The project supports Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) operating in five high potential sectors of the economy, which are information communications technology (ICT), entertainment, tourism, hospitality, light manufacturing and construction.
It also offers more direct support to firms channelled through a platform- called the Business Innovation and Growth (BIG) Platform – to provide various trainings, technical assistance and grant schemes
At the end of 2016, the World Bank rated the GEM project “unsatisfactory and underperforming” and considered scrapping it. But after three years of operation, the project has low deployment and was not meeting its job creation and economic development objectives, so it had to be restructured