Member of Parliament hopeful on the ticket of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Tamale Central Constituency for the 2020 general election who doubles as the Founder of the Repairer Foundation, Dr Ibrahim Anyars has launched a GH¢200,000 business intervention programme for traders in the constituency.
The idea is christened TamalePreneurship and expected to provide decent jobs that are suitable and sustainable for the development of the people of the Tamale Central constituency.
Accordingly, the first window of opportunity was announced for people to submit their applications.
The TamalePreneurship initiative would give both entrepreneurial skills training and financial support to individuals who present viable and sustainable business ideas and expertise to receive funds to either start a business or expand an existing business to create more jobs.
An amount of GH¢50,000 will be disbursed to the first group of beneficiaries by the end of October 2020 after their businesses are assessed and due diligence conducted.
However, the remaining amount would be paid to other people who submit their business proposals within the next one year.
Dr Ibrahim Anyars in his remarks at the launch said the essence of the policy is to bring the needed development to improve the livelihood and socioeconomic status of people in the Tamale Central constituency.
He promised to provide the constituents an all-inclusive leadership when elected as the Member Parliament after 7 December.
Dr Ibrahim Anyars noted that the periodic free health screening among the numerous pro-poor activities carried out by the Repairer Foundation has demonstrated his position of an all-inclusive leadership.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Nation Builders Corps (NABCo) implored the voters of Tamale Central to give him and President Nana Akufo-Addo their mandate.
“If we do well to sustain the fund it means we would’ve eliminated or reduced poverty in the constituency because everybody can access it to do business and avoid the huge interest rates and embarrassment we always endure when we contract loans from financial institutions”, he noted.
Dr Ibrahim Anyars said the TamalePreneurship Fund will provide relief to traders and business operators in the area because it is an interest free facility for the people to enjoy and would not be subjected to any tedious procedures compared to the financial companies.
Meanwhile, the Northern Regional Minister, Mr. Salifu Sa-eed at the ceremony pledged GH¢50,000 to support the fund so that more people can benefit.
Similarly, the Regional NABCo Coordinators also presented an amount of GH¢10,000 as their support to the fund.
The Minister in his submission urged the prospective beneficiaries to make good use of the money, saying the NPP government will never teach Ghanaians how to eat fish but will always coach them on how to catch the fish themselves.
The Regional Minister said Tamale is a cosmopolitan city and the gateway to the region, therefore positing that the TamalePreneurship project will affect the lives of many people in the region. Consequent to that, Mr. Sa-eed urged the electorate to vote massively for President Nana Akufo-Addo and Dr Anyars who he added can leverage the needed development to the constituency.
For his part, the Chief Executive Officer for the Northern Development Authority, Dr Sulemana Alhassan Anamzooya said the idea conceived is the beginning of the production of wealthy people in Tamale.
He recounted that in the past parents were engaged in table top petty trading such as selling porridge, Kenkey, Waakye and the rest, stressing these were the source of money used to pay their school fees and other expenses incurred before most people in the area were educated to become better people today.
“And I can assure if we are able to welcome Dr Anyars well and nurse this idea very well and make the best use of it in the next 10 to 15 years going, we shall be counting wealthy people in Tamale whose wealth are from the TamalePreneurship Fund”, he said.
The Repairer Foundation for some years now has organised free health screening for thousands of people in Tamale and also collaborated with other NGOs to distribute free sanitary pads to hundreds of teenagers and market women in the metropolis.
