Some youth of Ghana breathed a sigh of relief last week when One hundred and seven young people were led into the world of entrepreneurship with monetary support totaling about GH¢2.7 million under the Youth Enterprises Support (YES) initiative.
The YES initiative, which was born out of a collaboration between the government and the youth, is aimed at growing young entrepreneurs to help address the country’s unemployment problem.
It was instituted out of an awareness to go the extra mile to address one of the most pressing problems of world youth today; unemployment.
We can recall that this initiative was launched with an initial capital of GH¢10 million. The facility is an interest-free loan which is to be paid back under flexible but stringent terms.
We believe this feat is good and positive since one of the best ways to address unemployment was to fix the mindsets of young graduates that creating their own businesses was the way to go.
Some of these young business people will be starting their own businesses, while others will expand theirs to employ other youth.
From what we gather, Applications received by the YES Secretariat numbered over 2,000, out of which 365 applicants presented and defended their business proposals, with the successful ones receiving the monetary support.
President John Dramani Mahama, who presented the amounts averaging GH¢25,700 per beneficiary at a ceremony at the Flagstaff House, said the beneficiaries would also receive technical support to grow their businesses.
These youth, are the first batch of young entrepreneurs benefitting from the initiative, which was launched a year ago.
From the statistics received, 63.55 per cent of the beneficiaries were into agriculture and agribusiness, while services and cottage industry covered the remaining 36.55 per cent.
We think this move is laudable and worth praising since the agriculture sector over the years has suffered tremendous decline in capital investment.
We also believe that this conveys a message of hope for the sector which will, for the foreseeable future, remain the dominant sector of our economy even as we encourage other sectors to grow.
More significant is the fact that this initiative will debunk the general notion that the youth of Ghana, do not have any interest in the agriculture sector.
The president has assured that there is a second batch of 350 applicants who would equally have to present and defend their proposals very soon.
We, at Business Day wish them all the best and we pray that those who qualify and are ready to expand their businesses are given the opportunity to do so.
