Over 5,000 start-ups to receive support worth GHC50m – Mohammed Awal
Thousands of businesses are expected to get financial support to the tune of GHC50 million in the third window of the Presidential Business Support Programme
Five thousand business start-ups are expected to receive financial support worth roughly GHC50 million in the third window of the government’s Presidential Business Support Programme.
The 5,000 businesses will be chosen from about 26,000 business start-ups and young entrepreneurs who are expected to receive business training and capacity building in the third window of the support programme over the next two months.
Addressing the media during the launch of the Presidential Business Support Programme Window 3 Training, the Minister for Business Development, Mohammed Awal Ibrahim, said the programme forms part of the government’s plan to create more opportunities for the youth.
The chief executive officer of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP), John Kumah, asked local government officials to ensure the initiative is made accessible to vulnerable businesses in their communities.
“Let me take this opportunity to appeal to all the MCEs and MMDCEs to make the programme accessible to people living in their communities and in their districts, especially those in the rural sector. We are seeking to train tailors and hairdressers, welders and all those who have individual skills and want to set up as business enterprises and employ other people, and to empower them to receive funding.
“We are seeking to train an average of 100 per each district. So, when you multiply that by the 260 districts, we are looking to do 26,000 business start-ups and small businesses across the country in 2020,” he said.
According to him, these efforts have reduced Ghana’s unemployment rate from 15.3% in 2016 to the current 6.8%.
The Presidential Business Support Programme, which lauched in 2017, is among several initiatives rolled out by the Ministry of Business Development to strengthen the private sector.
It has trained about 19,000 entrepreneurs, of whom over 4,000 have been provided with loans at 10% interest to grow their businesses.
