By
Rashid Mbugri, GNA
Tamale, Sept 16, GNA – Government has
disbursed a total of Gh¢10 million to 260 young entrepreneurs in the north to
help boost their businesses.
The amount was to help build a capacity of the
entrepreneurs to help play a leading role in creating jobs for the
transformation of the economy.
The 260 young entrepreneurs received the money
during the weekend in Tamale at a program aimed at celebrating and awarding
financial support to young people engaged in entrepreneurship through the
Presidential Business Support Programme (PBSP) initiative on the theme:
“Empowering Ghanaian Businesses”.
The programme was organized by the Northern
Regional Coordinating Council in collaboration with the Ministry of Business
Development and attended by the Ministry of Energy, Metropolitan and Municipal
Chief Executives (MMDCEs), Religious and Traditional leaders and other
stakeholders.
Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, presenting
the premium business support to the beneficiaries said the PBSP sought to
provide young entrepreneurs with business development services, start-up
incubators and funding as well as technical support to enable them grow and
become successful.
He said the PBSP was set up within the context
of Ghana’s long-term strategic vision to consolidate its middle income status,
build an industry driven economy capable of providing decent jobs suitable and
sustainable for development.
Dr Bawumia said entrepreneurship was very
important to the private sector if they were to drive growth and encouraged
them to partner with government to create jobs and opportunities for the
teeming young populations.
He said over 1,000 micro, small and medium
enterprises in the three northern regions applied for support from this
programme and all of them were given the opportunity to go through a well
structured training to build their capacities to manage their business.
Dr Bawumia said 260 people were competitively
selected through the recommendation of six private incubation houses in a
transparent efficient and equitable manner.
He encouraged the beneficiaries to look beyond
Ghana and set their sights outside the country to market their products and
businesses.
Dr Bawumia said the beneficiaries were also to
receive continuous training and capacity building, mentorship and business
advisory services, free accounting services, access to business networking opportunities
as well as access to seed capitals ranging from Gh¢5,000.00 to Gh¢100,000.00
per business at an interest rate of 10 per cent.
“Key among the businesses are
agribusiness and agro-processing, smock weaving, Information Communication
Technology (ICT), animal and livestock rearing, food and beverages, fashion and
clothing among others” he said.
Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, the Minister for
Business Development urged all entrepreneurs to be very innovative and research
more to improve on their businesses.
He said as part of their programmes they would
be launching the women support programme before the end of this year to support
women entrepreneurs and their businesses.
Sheihu Dalhu Abdul Mumin, the Zongo Chief of
Tamale said youth entrepreneurship programme would play a vital role in
creating job opportunities in the country.
He appealed to government to extend the
support to people who are capable and competent devoid of political
affiliations.
Sheihu Mumin urged the Minister for Business
Development to inject effective monitoring mechanism so as to ensure that this
intervention was accomplished successfully.
He advised the beneficiaries not to disappoint
the people who trust them with this support and entreated them to make good use
of the support offered to them for the benefit of their communities and Ghana
at large.
GNA