Five small and medium-sized enterprises in the Ashanti region have begun a six–month incubation training at the Recycle Up! Ghana.

The training is to equip the participants with relevant business development skills and also provide support and investment exposure for their businesses.

The Green Employment and Enterprise Opportunities in Ghana (GrEEN) project is a four-year project implemented in the Ashanti and Western Regions of Ghana.

The project is a European Union funded programme that SNV Ghana is implementing with the United Nations Capital Development Fund.

It seeks to support the development and scale-up of businesses in the agriculture sector, renewable energy and water and sanitation.

Mrs. Rita Krampah, a corporate trainer, observed that many young entrepreneurs fail due to limited funding and rigid requirements imposed on them.

She believes that start-ups should be spared from fulfilling some of these requirements.

“The funding is limited and because it’s not much you can only do a little but if they have bigger funding and bigger support I think it will help.

“And also, when they start these businesses a lot of taxes and other things must be taken off the recycling business.

“I think that if we import a machine for your business, those taxes should be taken off to bring down the cost,” she said.

She called on the government to support the training hubs to enable them build capacities of young aspiring entrepreneurs.

“What the government can do, is to help the hubs support more people because the government cannot reach them directly but the hubs can.

“The hubs need to be funded to be able to help them. Today for instance, the hub is only able to support 4 of them but if they are given the necessary support, they can support about hundreds of people, especially our young graduates to get involved because it is a big industry and we need a lot of people in the recycling business,” she said.

Mr. Acquah Obinkyere, the project lead, encouraged SMEs to engage in environmentally friendly activities to protect the environment.

“As Ghana and the world at large is transitioning into a climate resilient works or jobs it is very essential for SMEs to also delve into the aspect because everyone is going green

“And the earth is only one; if we destroy it now the future progeny will suffer,” he said.

Gladys Kyei Oforiwaa, a participant, was grateful to Recycle Up! Ghana for the opportunity and encouraged them to reach out to more people.

“I am really excited to join this program; it is really amazing but I think recycle up should improve its way of publicizing their programs.

“Because there are a lot of people that don’t use social media,” she said.