Ghana Government urged to decentralize youth entrepreneurship support policies

The newly appointed President of the Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs, Mr. Richard E. Addison, has called on government to decentralize all youth entrepreneurship policies initiatives.

He said this in his new year message to members of the Chamber and young Ghanaian entrepreneurs.

2022 is a year for young entrepreneurs as the Government roll out many youth entrepreneurship policy initiatives.

According to the Young Entrepreneur, these interventions are laudable. However, Government should ensure they get to discerning young entrepreneurs in all corners of the country.

“Let us make sure these good initiatives like the YouStart, Ghana CAREs Obaatanpa, etc., are not centered in only Accra and Ashanti but the whole of Ghana. Let’s make sure those in the hinterlands get the support as well,” he stated.

Mr. Richard E. Addison also used the opportunity to call on Government to ensure that all the youth entrepreneurs’ policies interventions are spread across the country for all entrepreneurs to benefit.

“I call on Government to ensure that all interventions for young entrepreneurs and startups to be distributed fairly. We want transparency so that all young entrepreneurs and startups across Ghana will be able to know these interventions, know how to access them and where to go and sign up to access them. I will also appeal to the Government to keep things transparent and show us which districts have benefited from these interventions.

“Let us make sure these good initiatives like the YouStart, Ghana CAREs Obaatanpa, etc., are not centered in only Accra and Ashanti but the whole of Ghana. Let’s make sure those in the hinterlands get the support as well,” he added.

Read full statement below:

A Happy New Year. Today, My and My team at GCYE would like to extend our New Year’s greeting to every young entrepreneur in Ghana and across the world. As we begin the year, I hope to look back at 2021 before talking about the prospects of 2022.

The year 2021 was another year that saw the world greatly affected by COVID-19. Lockdowns and declarations of a state of emergency in many countries and regions placed restrictions on economic activities and our daily lives.

Amidst this, The Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs, through partnerships, we were able to implement several projects that support the businesses of Ghanaian young people in diverse ways.

As the new President of the Chamber, I am very encouraged by the steady progress, and I wish to express my sincere appreciation to everyone for putting in your best.

Looking at the prospects of the new year 2022, I call on young people to come together to develop homegrown ideas that can solve our problems so we won’t continue to rely solely on the central Government.

This year, the Chamber will be embarking on projects that will provide financial support to young entrepreneurs, build their capacity, and help youth transition to green and agriculture. We’ve already initiated a funding project dubbed; Young Entrepreneurs and Support Fund (YESS Fund), which seeks to be a sustainable funding pool for young entrepreneurs.

Our flagship Youth Agriculture project (Brafie Youth Agric Project) will follow soon. Brafie will be one of the biggest agricultural revolutions of the year. Through Brafie, young people will return to their communities and have land to invest in farming.

Also, the Young Entrepreneurs Summit and Expo is coming back bigger and better. The Summit, now renamed to Youth Entrepreneurship and Innovation Summit and Expo (YEIS), will showcase the products and innovations by young Ghanaian entrepreneurs and create an avenue for emerging and established businesses to meet under one umbrella to network and form lasting partnerships.

I use this opportunity to call on Government to ensure that all the excellent youth entrepreneurs’ policies interventions are spread across the country so all decerning entrepreneurs can benefit. Let us make sure these good initiatives like the YouStart, Ghana CAREs Obaatanpa, etc., are not centered in only Accra and Ashanti but the whole of Ghana. Let’s make sure those in the hinterlands get the support as well.

To our development partners and all stakeholders, we anticipate stronger partnership and collaboration as we continue to promote youth entrepreneurs in the country.

We, as a chamber, have declared this year to be a year of financial support for youth businesses. With the government funding projects and our initiatives and partners, access to finance should not be a bigger problem for youth businesses in 2022

Thank you.

Richard Addison

President

Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs (GCYE)