Government through the Rural Enterprises Project (REP) is injecting between US$200,000 to US$400,000 into empowering more than 50 selected graduates this year in the Assin-Fosu Municipality of the Central Region.
The initiative is a multi-pronged approach aimed at creating the conducive and business-friendly environment to stimulate enterprise activities and provide integrated national support for start-ups and small businesses that would in turn generate employment among the youth. The programme is dubbed National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan (NEIP).
Mr Nicholas Fiifi Baako, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), who disclosed this in an interview with the GNA said it would soon be opened to graduates in the Municipality aged between 18-35 years, but were unemployed to improve their standard of living.
The selected graduates would be grouped and trained in the value chain of the selected products and afterwards benefit from loans and start-up kits to enable them start their own enterprises to be independent.
Sponsored by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and African Development Bank (AFDB) in collaboration with TechnoServe and the Assembly, the MCE asked all interested youth to visit the municipal office of BAC and the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) for immediate registration.
He reiterated government’s commitment to industrialise the economy, reduce importation, increase export and create employment opportunities for Ghanaians in its determination to change the economic fortunes of Ghana and fulfillment its goal to build the most business-friendly economy in Africa
Mr Baako said government’s ambitious plan when executed would ensure the emergence of new businesses that would receive financial and business development services support, secure markets during the critical formative years, and to tap into a wide supply chain and network during their growth years.
“I am determined that we change the economic conditions in our country for the better, to ensure that young people see it as a place of opportunities and not flee to other countries at the peril of their lives.
“We need to do all within our power to create an entrepreneurial climate, to enable our young people come up with creative ideas that can be developed into businesses,” he said.
GSB