A SERIES of workshops initiated by the Institute for Music and Development (IMD) aimed at providing entrepreneurial skills to musicians and other stakeholders in the music industry ended recently in Accra.

The workshop, which had resource persons from Finaplan Services Limited, introduced participants to leadership skills, team building project planning, proposal writing, preparing business plans, records keeping and monitoring and evaluation.

Participants included Dr. Eddie Sogah, Faisal Helwani, Stan Plange, Diana Akiwumi, Rex Omar, Ebo Hawkson, Kojo Dadson Opoku Mensah, Amanzdeba Brew, Carlos Sakyi, Eben Nunoo, Naa Adjele, Samuel Kwakye as well as several producers, sound engineers and event organisers.

The workshop, according to a representative of the organisers, has become necessary due to the disorganised nature of the music industry in Ghana, apparent lack of entrepreneurial skills, as well as the inability of industry players to submit credible proposals to access credit facilities from financial institutions.

Following the workshops and other related activities, the IMD has received funding from DANIDA to help support a micro-credit scheme for the music industry which will inevitably help boost the potential for growth.

"The workshop has greatly enhanced my knowledge about the business aspects of music — it would be really easy to work with clients and settle issues relating to contracts,” said Opoku Mensah, a renowned pianist with the 4 Play Jazz Quartet.