The Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Kwesi Afreh Biney, announced that the Self-Employed and Enrolment Drive (SEED) initiative has achieved significant milestones.
This programme was introduced to encourage self-employed individuals and workers in the informal sector to enrol in the SSNIT pension scheme.
Mr Biney stated that the SEED initiative was launched in May 2023 with the strategic objective of broadening pension coverage across Ghana.
He noted that since its inception, SEED has successfully enrolled over 100,000 self-employed individuals and has generated substantial revenue for the Trust.
Mr Biney made these remarks during an interview with journalists at SSNIT’s 2024 Media Connect event.
The engagement, which formed part of the activities marking SSNIT’s 60th anniversary celebration under the theme “A Legacy of Service”, aimed to strengthen collaboration between SSNIT and the media. The ultimate goal is to intensify public education on social protection in Ghana.
He explained that the engagement was designed to deepen collaboration with the media in promoting accurate, balanced, and impactful reportage on social security issues.
It also offered SSNIT the opportunity to provide an update on its ongoing transformation initiatives and, crucially, to create a platform for open dialogue, feedback, and partnership to enhance public understanding and participation in the SSNIT Scheme.
Additionally, the Media Connect event served to reinforce the media’s role as critical partners in driving awareness and trust in the scheme, particularly among informal and self-employed workers.
Responding to an update on SEED’s performance, the Director-General disclosed that collections within that category have outperformed all its collection categories.
He reported that the Trust had set a collection target of GH₵46 million for SEED, a figure that has since been surpassed, crossing GH₵50 million.
”SEED was launched two years ago. We’ve done over 100,000 registrations, and that side actually has outperformed all our collection categories. We have ourselves a target this year for SEED to do about Ghc46 million. As of the end of September, we’ve gone past Ghc50million in SEED collections.”
He emphasised that this performance is a testament to the concentrated efforts directed towards achieving the target. He added that SEED, which was previously managed by a selected group of staff, is now an agenda for every SSNIT employee following an internal review.
Looking ahead, Kwesi Afreh Biney confirmed that SSNIT will leverage digital channels to promote further growth.
Furthermore, the organisation plans to increase engagement with associations and other key stakeholders to effectively communicate the value proposition of the scheme to the public.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
