Nestlé Ghana partners NSS to hold Youth Summit in Accra

Nestlé Ghana Limited has collaborated with the National Service Scheme (NSS) to hold a youth summit at the Accra International Conference Center. The programme held on Friday October 7, 2022 was on the theme “Redefining Youth Empowerment”. It brought together over 800 young people most of whom have just completed their national service or have just began.

The initiative is part of Nestlé Ghana’s Global Youth Initiative – Nestlé Needs Youth programme which aims to offer a platform for the discussion of the critical roles the youth can play in the quest to build a future with a professional career.

The summit provided opportunities for Mentorship, Entrepreneurship and Agripreneurship ideas as well as Career Growth, among others.

Human Resources Manager at Nestlé Ghana, Sophia Benson, took the opportunity to explain to participants the company’s policy on youth development and entrepreneurship. She described the youth as the workforce, entrepreneurs, agripreneurs, innovators and business leaders of tomorrow, who would be feeding Ghana’s growing population.

“What you may not know is that Nestlé is also keenly interested in youth and youth development globally and particularly in Ghana, where 58% of the population is below 25 years of age. This is why we are here today with the National Service Scheme,” she explained.

She said Nestlé believes in the future and the role of the youth in nation building, which is why it established a Global Youth Initiative known as Nestlé Needs Youth.

“Under this initiative, we aim to help young people access economic opportunities through employment and employability, entrepreneurship and ‘agripreneurship’.

According to her, the employment and employability pillar aims to help young people access economic opportunities by offering jobs, traineeships and internships, adding that, it is through these programs that the youth gain the skills and experiences required to secure a job with Nestlé or other companies where they can build successful careers.

“As you are aware, not everyone can be employed in the formal sector and frankly, not everyone wants to be. So, through our second pillar; Entrepreneurship, we empower young people to gain new knowledge and skills, test ideas or grow their businesses,” she stated.

Madam Benson named the third pillar as ‘Agripreneurship’ – a combination of agriculture and entrepreneurship. This is where young people are encouraged to create livelihoods as farmers, to run their farms as businesses and to use regenerative agriculture methods to support sustainable food systems.

“Through our Nestlé Cocoa Plan, we work with over 17,000 farmers in selected cocoa growing districts to source cocoa sustainably and to improve the livelihoods of the farmers. Under the Nestlé Cereals Plan, we work with aggregators and small holder grain farmers who produce grains including maize, rice and recently millet, which we proudly use for the production of CERELAC,’ she explained further.

She said the pillars are in line with Nestlé’s global ambition to help 10 million young people worldwide to access economic opportunities by 2030; something they do because of their firm believe that communities cannot thrive if they fail to offer a future for the younger generation.

The Executive Director of the National Service Scheme, Osei Assibey Antwi in his remark acknowledged the fact that job creation has become a major issue today across the world Ghana is no exception. He therefore lauded Nestle Ghana for its bold move to zoom into job creation for the youth and the empowerment of the youth into entrepreneurship.

“We love the partnership between the NSS and Nestle Ghana and we believe it will grow in strength in the interest of Ghana,” he stated.

A Managing Partner at Coral Reef Innovation Hub, Richard Osei-Anim, who was one of the resources persons, took the participants through the types of entrepreneurship and what to do to become one, skills needed to come an entrepreneur, the advantages and challenges in becoming an entrepreneur, among others.

“Ensure that the kind of finance that you are seeking is appropriate. Ensure that you know how much is needed and for how long. Prepare your case fully before meeting with the Bank/Investor. Keep it simple – most investors don’t understand the technicalities of various propositions,” he advised.

By Jeorge Wilson Kingson ||ghananewsonline.com.gh