Government has opened the portal for the YouStart Ghana Jobs and Skills programme as part of its agenda to build an entrepreneurial nation.
The ambitious GH¢10 billion programme seeks to support young entrepreneurs to gain access to capital, training and technical skills that will enable them to start, build and grow their own businesses. This programme is in partnership with the World Bank in a bid to reduce unemployment by some one million jobs.
At the launch and opening of the portal, Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta said the use of an open and transparent application portal will ensure that the benefits of the YouStart will be available to all young people.
This initiative targets young people and students between the ages of 18-40 years who have brilliant business ideas and viable businesses, and supports these individuals to nurture, grow and expand their businesses and create jobs in the economy.
In the 2017 budget statement, government indicated that it will collaborate with private sector organisations and development partners to “implement decent employment creation programmes, particularly, for unemployed young graduates.
Citing the government’s pledge to deal with youth unemployment, Mr. Ofori-Atta said: “Crucially, our progress is culminated in the launch of the YouStart District Entrepreneurship Programme, a dedicated service offering aimed at easing constraints for existing and aspiring young entrepreneurs across the 216 districts of our country, to create one million jobs for the youth in three years”.
The finance minister revealed that mid-2022, the government implemented the pilot phases of the programme, which was successful in supporting 46 individual beneficiaries and 8 groups/associations with membership between 6 and 45 persons across the country.
Given the high rate of youth unemployment in the country, government intends to use the YouStart programme to create more jobs for the economy, and to support the expansion and growth of Ghanaian businesses within the next 3 years.
Norvanreport