The importance of small and medium-sized companies for economic growth and poverty reduction is widely acknowledged, not only among academics but also among policy makers and administrators around the world. Nevertheless, strategies, policies, and instruments applied as well as measures taken are not always consistent with highly diverse and complex realities of entrepreneurs.

The link between institutions of higher education teaching and researching management and small scale business issues on the one hand and entrepreneurship promotion on the other hand is often strongly recommended but rarely ever installed or used at its full potential. Several ways of closing the gap exist: Entrepreneurship Centres at Universities; further education for staff of SME promoting institutions provided by MBA programs; Business Development Services and Business Incubators run or supported by academically trained staff etc.

The workshop at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana explored problems and perspectives of making SME promotion one of the core activities of institutions related in one way or the other to higher education in Africa. All in all, 75 alumni, professionals and experts took part in presentations, discussion and sessions. In the end, alumni formed a task force to speed up the installment of a Global SME Promotion Monitor facility.