Miracles Aboagye: YouStart can be a game changer

Dennis Miracles Aboagye as the Executive secretary of the Inter-Ministerial Coordinating Committee on Decentralisation has described the YouStart initiative as a game changer that will help reduce unemployment in the country.

The Executive secretary of the Inter-Ministerial Coordinating Committee on Decentralisation is optimistic the decentralised approach of the initiative will stimulate economic growth.

“You must stimulate the local economy in the area, you must initiative local and economic development agenda in the area, so your people can do more and you can tax them, that is why Iam happy with the YouStart that government is introducing and the decentralize approach,” he said on TownHall Talk on Friday(26 August)

“We now have business resource centres across the country, we need to activate them , make sure that, at least they can now help the young people develop their business plan, financials as we are going to give them money and this takes time,” he told sit-in host Wilberforce Asare.

He added “But eventually with the kind of things being done at the background, eventually when it takes off , I think YouStart will be a gamechanger ,because this time we are not talking about employing people into public sector, we’re are talking but empowering  people so they can employ more people.”

Listen to Dennis Miracles Aboagye in the attached audio below:

Watch the full interview in the attached video below:

Background

Earlier, the government announced plans to  to roll out the “YouStart” initiative with the aim of creating one million jobs for Ghanaian youth, the Minister for Finance has said.

Delivering the government’s 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy in Parliament on Wednesday (17 November), Ken Ofori-Atta said the initiative will launch with initial funding of GHC1 billion.

“This understanding of the youth employment challenge, as well as extensive consultations with stakeholders including youth associations and educational institutions across the country, have led to the development of the YouStart initiative, which proposes to use GHC1 billion to create one million jobs in partnership with the finance institutions and development partners,” the minister said.

”In addition, our local banks have agreed to a package that will result in increasing their SME portfolio up to about GHC5 billion over the next three years.”

Soft loans

Under the initiative, beneficiaries will receive soft loans of up to GHC50,000 to help start-ups (in particular, businesses started by young graduates and school leavers) and small businesses to expand.

“Starter packs (soft loans tied to equipment acquisition) [will be given] of up to GHC50,000 for individuals and GHC100,000 for associations/groups,” Ofori-Atta said. He also spoke of a “standardised loan package of between GHC100,000 to GHC400,000 at concessional rates for SMEs through financial institutions”.

“NEIP will also engage our faith-based organisations as partners for the delivery of essential artisanal skills.”

Fred Dzakpata

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