In a bid to foster entrepreneurship and economic empowerment among the youth in the Upper East Region, the Ghana Enterprise Agency (GEA) has partnered with the Mastercard Foundation to launch the Business in a Box (BizBox) initiative. The program aims to provide support and resources to young entrepreneurs, enabling them to create sustainable opportunities in their communities.
Isaac Nimako, the Director in charge of Micro Small, and Medium Enterprises at the Ghana Enterprise Agency head office mentioned that the BizBox project targets supporting 250,000 Ghanaians and builds on the successes of the Young Africa Works.
“As we look ahead, this new intervention is designed to achieve even more, by providing skills development, mentoring and coaching, access to markets, and regulatory support to approximately 250,000 young women and men including Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) with a focus on supporting 125,000 of them with start-up kits to create new businesses, jobs and by extension better the livelihoods of our young people”, he stated.
Mr. Nimako said the BizBox Project resonates with the government’s commitment to creating prosperity and equal opportunities for all, as outlined in its agenda for job creation. The BizBox initiative offers a holistic approach to entrepreneurship development, providing aspiring young entrepreneurs with access to a range of services and resources tailored to their needs.
These include training and capacity-building programs, mentorship and coaching, access to finance and markets, as well as ongoing support and guidance throughout their entrepreneurial journey.
The Upper East Regional Minister, Stephen Yakubu, who launched the project, said it comes to add to the many social intervention policies the current government has introduced to address youth unemployment, which has been a national issue since the assumption of the Nana Addo administration.
“It is in recognition of this fact that the NPP government, with the belief that the private sector is the engine of growth, and the Regional Co-ordinating Council associates with and lends its fullest support to the roll-out of the BizBox project in the region,” said Mr. Yakubu.
The Upper East Regional Manager of the Ghana Enterprise Agency (GEA), Bukari Mohammed, disclosed that whereas the BizBox project targets 250, 000 Ghanaians across the country, 19,324 individuals from the Upper East Region are benefiting.
He said the project will target people in apprenticeship training, vocational schools, and farm-based institutes and support them with skills and start-up kits to establish their own businesses to reduce the unemployment situation in the country.
He indicated that the skills training and start-up kits will be provided to the beneficiaries for free, however, his outfit would monitor to ensure that the items are put to good use for others to also benefit.
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1Mhz|Joshua Asaah|Bolgatanga|Ghana
