The German Cooperation has celebrated two achievements as a result of their collaboration with the Suame Magazine Industrial Development Organisation (SMIDO) in Kumasi.
They are the commissioning of an auto diagnostics training centre and the inauguration of the first-ever female-led scrap dealer’s association in Ghana. This marked two important milestones in the development of the Suame Magazine Industrial area at Kumasi in the Ashanti region.
The area is the biggest turning point for repairs, spare parts, and e-waste in Ghana and one of the biggest in West Africa. The market provides much of the country’s economy with secondary resources like iron, aluminum and copper.
With around 12,000 stalls and 35 associations settled in Suame Magazine, it provides around 200,000 jobs for both men and women. This makes it an appealing destination for income opportunities and trainings for mechanics, technicians, welders and other handcraft workers.
To support the overseeing organisation, SMIDO, in enhancing the capacities of artisans within the enclave, the German Development Cooperation, through its Invest for Jobs programme in collaboration with the Technology Consulting Centre (TCC) of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), provides, among other training measures, auto diagnostics training to strengthen the technological capacities of artisans.
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Regina Bauerochse Barbosa, the Country Director of GIZ Ghana, highlighted that the nature of modern automobiles requires a high level of competence in the use of digital tools to be able to identify and address faults in vehicles.
