$10m Set Aside To Implement Youth Enterprise Scheme

The Ministry of Trade and Industry has reserved US$10 million as seed money for the implementation of the Youth Enterprise Scheme (YES), the Chief Director of the ministry, Mr Dawarnoba Baeka, has announced. He said the amount would be drawn from the Export Development and Agricultural Investment Fund (EDAIF) and managed by the National Board for Small-Scale Industries (NBSSI). The YES is a programme designed to provide funding for achievable business proposals from young entrepreneurs. Mr Baeka made this known in a speech read on his behalf at the Ghana Entrepreneurship Forum held in Accra yesterday. He explained that the YES initiative was expected to provide capital for business startups, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Mr Baeka, therefore, encouraged young entrepreneurs to form partnerships and develop joint proposals in order to access capital from the scheme. Mr Baeka, who spoke on the topic, �The role of entrepreneurship in Ghana�s growth: Policies and resources,� said the ministry had implemented some policies such as the Trade and Industrial policies and the Private Sector Development Strategy in its bid to support entrepreneurship and the private sector. He explained that the review of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) Act was to facilitate the easy establishment of companies and reduce the cost of doing business. He said in line with efforts to support industries, selected industries in the pharmaceutical and agro-processing sectors had been provided with a stimulus package. The President of the Ghana Chamber of Commerce, Mr Seth Adjei Baah, identified the difficulty in accessing funds as a major challenge entrepreneurs were facing. That, according to him, made it difficult for entrepreneurs to source capital for long-term projects, adding that the banks had not been supportive of startups. The occasion also marked the launch of the second edition of the MBA Global Business and Sustainability Social Entrepreneurship programme organised by the Catholic Institute of Business and Technology in collaboration with the Catholic University of Milan. In his address, a Director at the Graduate School of Business and Society at the Catholic University of Milan, Mr Fabio Petroni, said the master�s programme enabled participants to transform their business ideas into plans. He said the programme would serve as a platform for participants to network with other business participants. The Chief Executive Officer of Empire Entertainment, an events and marketing company, Mr Kwabena Anokye Adisi, who was a participant in the first edition of the master�s programme, was presented with an award for the best business model for his innovative business models which had propelled the entertainment industry.