The Ghana Enterprise Agency (GEA), formerly National Board of Small-Scale Industry (NBSSI), has launched a Jobs and Skills Project in Sunyani in the Bono Region to train 1,950 youth between the ages of 18 and 40 at the basic level of entrepreneurship.
The aim of the programme, funded by the World Bank, is to sensitise, train and equip the youth, most especially women, with the requisite capacity building skills in entrepreneurship and employment programmes.
Mr. Baffour Akufo Ankamah, Director of Finance at the GEA, speaking at the ceremony, indicated that the project was free, and called on the youth, irrespective of their political leanings, to join the programme by logging onto the online portal from Monday 17th to 27th November 2022 to apply.
He noted that paper applications would be given to applicants who would not be able to access the online portal at the various districts and regional offices. Mr. Ankamah advised the youth that grants given to participants at the end of the training must be used for the purpose.
He urged women and persons with disabilities to patronise the project to be equipped with skills to earn an income for survival.
Madam Vanessa Afia Asomea Takyi, GEA Deputy Regional Manager, said the project would be held mostly at the district level.
She said the youth would be equipped with entrepreneurship skills, and supported with start-up grants (with certification from the Registrar General Department and Food and Drugs Authority) and machines for those who had the potential to start their businesses.
Afia Asomea Takyi noted that priority would be given to persons with disabilities, Nation Builders Corps (NABCo) and service personnel, and that 50% of the beneficiaries would be women.
On the selection of beneficiaries for various apprenticeships, she said that a needs assessment would be conducted by consultants to screen participants to know the skills they were endowed with to serve as a focus area.
To qualify under the project, the Deputy Regional Manager said a person must be a Ghanaian within the age of 18 to 40 years, and completed Junior High School, Senior High School or Tertiary, and must also be willing to be enrol for any skill of their choice.
She encouraged Ghanaians to create awareness on the project because entrepreneurship was a lasting solution to Ghana’s youth unemployment as reviewed by the Ghana statistical Service.
