In its bid to address youth unemployment and curb illegal migration, Yepafrica – a Dutch NGO working in Africa, has trained 5 individuals with entrepreneurial skills to impact their knowledge on other individuals.
Yepafrica has been working in Africa for 15 years, empowering the youth to bring entrepreneurial qualities in them. It operates empowerment and entrepreneurship learning centres in Gambia and Senegal. The Ghana Chapter was established to expand its reach and impact, starting with the graduation of the first cohort.
The NGO is recruiting new trainees so the group can have a build-up of ‘Yeppers’ all around Ghana who can connect together and support their start-ups, as the group is planning their headquarters for Africa in Accra. 15 people applied for the 5-day training, out of which the 5 best trainers were picked to become trainers.
The final section of the training, dubbed ‘Train the Trainer Programme’, was held last week in Accra at the Lakeside Marina Park from Monday, 11th September, 2023 through to Friday, 15th September, 2023, where the 5 best trainers made presentations of their various projects to kick-start their role of training other youngsters in Ghana.
The 5-day training was climaxed with presentations as new Yeppers will now take the lead in setting up the first learning centre and start training other youths in Ghana. They were later presented with the Yepafrica trainer certificates, a recognition for having successfully completed the Yepafrica Training Assistance Coach Programme.
Addressing newsmen at the end of the training, Chairperson for Yepafrica Ghana Foundation, Munnira Sheikh, said her outfit was glad to witness the 1st batch of young and vibrant ‘Yeppers’ who are young individuals from Ghana having been trained and empowered to train other youths. “Young people who had no idea about their future and were struggling have been empowered toward their future success. Now they are ready to train other youngsters in Ghana.
“We will keep instilling skills into more young people from Ghana; and these trainers will train others and gradually, we will build a big network of individuals ready to empower other individuals.
Munnira Sheikh reiterated that Yepafrica was committed to reducing unemployment and illegal migration as the two main focus areas; hence, will continue to give empowerment to the youth so they can feel that they can establish themselves from zero or nothing when they live in Ghana. “We will continue to inspire them to learn about their own ability and to know that they have the power to establish from nothing. We are, therefore, inviting investors, sponsors and funding partners to support us to take the programme to the next step.”
She urged the youth to stop blaming the system, keep believing in themselves, to keep finding solutions and their inner strength and to be inspired to get the resources to move forward in life.
On his part, Founder & CEO of Yepafrica Foundation, Netherlands, Paul Englesman, bemoaned the increasing number of youth unemployment in sub-Saharan Africa. “The number of youth unemployment is growing at an alarming rate and if we do not do anything about it, the number will grow to billions by 2050, which will be a disaster for Africa and the world at large. Youth unemployment should be on top of the agenda by policy-makers.”
Paul Englesman reiterated that at Yepafrica, individuals are empowered to take the responsibility of their own life. “We put the youth at the driver’s seat.”
He congratulated the new ‘Yeppers’ and expressed optimism that having begun this journey 15 years ago in Gambia and then in Senegal and having trained and empowered more than 1000 individuals, Ghana remains a good prospect for the future.
Messer Michael Boakye Acquah, Programmes Manager – Yepafrica, together with Miss Ayisha Mohammed, Operational Manager – Yepafrica, in a joint interview, expressed their readiness to help other young individuals to be inspired for growth. They, however, expressed worry about the canker of brain drain; and called on the youth to believe in their potential and strive hard to make it in the country. Yepafrica, they reiterated, has empowered them to realise their full potential as such they are now ready to impact such knowledge for all to benefit.
