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Government to create 120,000 jobs within five years – Minister

By Godwill Arthur-Mensah, GNA

Accra, Aug.13,
GNA – Government, through the Ministry of Business Development, says it will
create 120,000 jobs under the youth entrepreneurship programmes within five
years to help reduce youth unemployment and bolster the economy.

Dr Ibrahim
Mohammed Awal, the Minister of Business Development, said this at the
‘Meet-the-Press’ series in Accra, on Tuesday.

He said GH¢100
million has been spent so far, by government and private sector organisations
in capacity-building and financial support in the past two years.

He said 19,000
young entrepreneurs and start-ups have been supported with capacity-building
initiatives and funding to implement their business ideas within two years,
noting that 7,000 of them were trained in 2017 and 12,000 are being trained
this year.

The Minister
said government supported young entrepreneurs with various amounts ranging
between GH¢25,000
.00 and GH¢50,000.00 under the Presidential Support Programme, while 1,350 existing
small-and-medium businesses were supported with funding between GH¢ 10,000
.00 and GH¢100,000.00.

Dr Mohammed Awal
said for instance, government supported two young female entrepreneurs from the
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology with GH¢ 60,000
.00 for emerging as winners for Presidential Pitch Season Two competition
this year, whiles President Akufo-Addo made a personal donation of GH¢40,000
.00 to the winners.

He said the
first runner-up and second runner-up received GH¢35,000
.00 and GH¢40,000.00 respectively,
while the other seven contestants received GH¢25,000
.00 each to make real their innovative business ideas and create jobs.

He said there
would not be inclusive development without supporting Persons with Disability
(PWDs), and government is mentoring and supporting up to 1,000 female PWDs with
various forms of financial support and that 100 of them received funding this
year.

He said the
Ministry has a Monitoring Unit to monitor the business activities of the
beneficiaries and announced that it witnessed a 70 per cent recovery rate from
those who received financial support last year.

The Sector
Minister said government has established entrepreneurship clubs in schools to
mentor and support students with entrepreneurial ideas at the second cycle and
tertiary education institutions, to implement their business ideas when they
complete their various courses.

He said the
Ministry’s core mandate was to build an entrepreneurial culture in young people
so as to create jobs and alleviate poverty in the society.

It is the
intension of government, he said, to build 20 world-class businesses in the
country in the next five years, who could rub shoulders with global brands.

Dr Mohammed
Awal, therefore, expressed government’s delight that the World Business Angels
Investment Forum (WBAF) has established an office in Accra, to mentor, provide
funding for innovative business entrepreneurs and link them up with global
business conglomerates, through industrial attachments to gain experience.

The GBAF is an
affiliate partner of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion with
the ultimate goal of supporting businesses and entrepreneurs to access
financial services and create jobs.

The WBAF, he
said, offered investment packages ranging between 30 and 50 billion dollars
every year, to budding businesses globally and the presence of the organisation
in the country would help the cause of government’s entrepreneurship agenda.

GNA

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