The Ministry of Business Development has disbursed GH₵6m to support 700 young entrepreneurs in the five Regions of the Northern under the Presidential Business Support Programme, Window Two.
The amount is intended to help the Entrepreneurs to scale up their businesses and create the necessary job opportunities for the youth.
At a ceremony in Tamale yesterday, during which cheques for the beneficiaries were presented, the Minister for Business Development, Dr. Ibrahim Mohammed Awal charged the beneficiaries to use the money judiciously to enhance their businesses.
He said small businesses constitute over 80% of all businesses in the country and that was why the Akufo-Addo government is focusing on entrepreneurship for young people to enable them be job creators and job owners instead of being job seekers.
He entreated the youth in the Northern, Upper East, Upper West, Savannah and North East regions to take advantage of the Presidential Business Support Programme and scale up their businesses.
Dr. Awal announced that an amount of GH₵10million would be disbursed to young entrepreneurs in Northern Ghana next year in line with government’s effort to build the capacity of young business owners.
Referring to next year’s general elections, the Minister advised the youth to eschew violence and divisiveness and rather unite behind President Akufo-Addo and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government for sustained development of the country.
“Reject politicians who preach violence and use chieftaincy as a divisive mechanism,” he added.
Dr. Awal said the election is about development, access to education, health, potable water among others and therefore urged the people of Northern Ghana to leverage the relative peace in the area for accelerated development.
The first window of the programme saw 1,350 entrepreneurs receiving similar support.
Speaking on the journey of National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP) so far, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Lawyer John Kumah said the success of the first window resulted in an exponential increase in the number of applications received in the second window.
He commended the beneficiaries in the first window, particularly those in Northern Ghana for recording the highest recovery rate of 90%.
“I want to take this opportunity to commend the Northern regions of Ghana. You were the topmost sector in the recovery in last year’s support. Because of that, this year we have increased the number of beneficiaries from the Northern regions of Ghana as compared to last year,” he said.
He advised the current beneficiaries to do even better in the recovery of the funds.
The CEO urged applicants who were not selected in the second window to reapply next year when the third window opens.
The Northern Regional Minister Salifu Saeed, expressed appreciation to Dr. Awal and NEIP for the support given to the young entrepreneurs.
Mr Saeed challenged the beneficiaries to apply the funds to expand their businesses in order to repay within schedule.
“You cannot quantify the value [and] the impact you are making on the lives of our people here,” he stressed.
Source: Yahaya MASAHUDU, thefinderonline.com