The Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA) has organized a day’s forum in Tamale to sensitize stakeholders including Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives in the northern region on the Ghana Economic Transformation Project (GETP) with funding support from the World Bank.
The GETP is an initiative aimed at deploying grants as part of efforts by the government to promote private sector investments and firm growth in non-resource-based sectors operated by young Ghanaian entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurship is often touted as the remedy for the massive youth unemployment in the country. Young people are called to take up opportunities available, in digital sectors and others to combat the high youth unemployment.
Therefore, the World Bank and the Government of Ghana are keen to implement an exclusively youth focused Technical Assistance and grant funding programme for young entrepreneurs in the country.
The Northern Regional Manager of GEA, Mathew Azoya, in a media interview said qualified beneficiaries must be between the ages of 18 and 35.
He noted potential applicants must go on the internet and put in their application but ensure the right information is captured into the system.
“We asked every potential person who is qualified under this category to go out and then put in their applications. But please when you’re putting in the application, you should put in the application properly [because garbage in, garbage out] so that you will be selected to benefit from the program” he emphasized.
The Savelugu Municipal Chief Executive, Hajia Ayishetu Seidu, on the sidelines of the sensitization program encouraged business women to take full advantage of the opportunity by registering their businesses in order to access some of these government interventions.
The MCE also called on members of the various artisan associations such as wielders, carpenters, among others to also apply for the opportunity to scale up their businesses.
“…A lot of them are registered businesses and if we get opportunities of this nature and they are able to access it, it will enhance their activities and the burden on us as parents and assemblies will reduce to barest minimum” she emphasized.
Meanwhile, the government has introduced a number of policies to tackle the rising youth unemployment situation in the country and several skills training programs have been designed for the youth to venture into entrepreneurship.
