- GEA, Mastercard Foundation equip 439 beneficiaries of A2E project in Eastern Region
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Enterprises Agency, Kosi Antwiwaa Yankey-Ayeh, says the recently launched Development Bank Ghana (DBG) will revolutionise the contributions of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to the country’s COVID-19 era economic recovery.
The devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has had considerable impacts on Ghanaian businesses and economy, forcing many firms to cut costs by reducing staff hours, reducing wages, and in some cases laying-off workers, according to the COVID-19 Business Tracker Survey conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank.
Given the above, Mrs Yankey-Ayeh told the Business and Financial Times (B&FT) that the coming of DBG will lead to strengthening Ghanaian SMEs, thus expanding their reach and ability to create jobs for the teeming unemployed youth.
“I think that the Development Bank Ghana is an amazing concept…. once you have a development bank, it creates an agenda to transform and accelerate the growth of businesses. So, in our case as the agency mandated to support and strengthen SMEs, our goal as much as possible is to ensure that we support the DBG by being able to have access to these SMEs, to be able to provide the right type of technical assistance so they can grow,” she told the B&FT on the sidelines of the 2ND Eastern Regional Apprenticeship to Entrepreneurship (A2E) graduation ceremony at Akyem Oda.
Embracing entrepreneurship to solve youth unemployment
Touching on the country’s rising youth unemployment, Mrs. Yankey-Ayeh observed during her speech at the graduation ceremony that 12 percent of the 33 percent of the young people making up Ghana’s population are unemployed.
She’s therefore upbeat about graduates from the Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship (ICE) and A2E programme where over 12,000 youths – with a particular focus on women – who have completed their vocational and technical skills training under the supervision of well-skilled craft persons will provide the needed solution to youth unemployment in the country.
“This initiative, in our opinion, complements government’s efforts to create jobs and wealth. This is why we are grateful to government and the Mastercard Foundation for their tremendous support and contributions in ensuring that intentional support is being churned out to reduce unemployment in our country and create a vibrant entrepreneurial economy,” she stated.
The Young Africa Works Project, which is a partnership between the Ghana Enterprises Agency and Mastercard Foundation, trained over 1,333 out of the 12,000 trained nationwide. Four Hundred and Thirty-Nine (439) from the over 1,333 who completed their apprenticeship training in the fields of Hairdressing, Dressmaking, Baking and Confectionery, welding among others were supported with startup kits during the ceremony.
