The 2024 New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary candidate for the Tamale Central constituency who doubles as the Metropolitan Chief Executive for Tamale, Hon Sule Salifu, has presented business startup equipment to over 300 young artisans in Tamale, the northern regional capital.
The beneficiaries successfully completed the Apprenticeship to Entrepreneurship training in hairdressing, baking and confectionery, sewing, carpentry, and welding-skills under the Business in a Box Project, which is a collaborative initiative between the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA) and the Mastercard Foundation.
The initiative aligns with the Akufo-Addo administration’s commitment to providing dignified and sustainable employment opportunities for the youth.
Speaking at a short handing over ceremony last Thursday (November 7, 2024), Sule Salifu, noted that the distribution of the items will help to reduce poverty drastically in the metropolis and commended the MasterCard Foundation for supporting the initiative.
He further called on the foundation and other development partners to assist with more of such items to enable the teeming unemployed youth who have the vocational and technical skills to start their own businesses.
“…It is our firm belief and conviction that it will reduce the crime rate as well in the area; because once they have a career, they will want to concentrate on their businesses and that will reduce the level of crime rate in the area and make them useful because they will be contributing their quota to the development of Tamale, Northern Region and Ghana as a whole” he emphasized.
For his part, the Northern Regional Manager of GEA, Mathew Azoya, in his remarks disclosed that since 2017, the GEA has facilitated the creation of over 109,471 jobs, with an impressive 67 percent benefiting women.
He added, “Today’s ceremony is a testament to this commitment as we celebrate the remarkable achievements made possible through the partnership between the GEA and the Mastercard Foundation.”
“I have no doubt that you will use the skills and resources you’ve gained to make a meaningful impact in your communities” he stressed.
Meanwhile, some of trainees in an interaction expressed gratitude to Hon Sule Salifu and the government of Ghana and it’s development partners for such landmark intervention.
In a Custodian News interview, they promised to adequately apply the skills acquired and tools provided to them judiciously in order to transform their lives and also transfer the knowledge to other people in the society.
