The Business Development Minister has disclosed that over 22,500 students from both Senior High School (SHS) and tertiary institutions across the country are benefitting from a grooming program under the Student Entrepreneurship Initiative.   Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal said exposing SHS students to business concepts and plans at an early age will help build entrepreneurship culture amongst them. Addressing the media when he took his turn at the Meet The Press series in Accra Tuesday, he said the Initiative has the tendency for students to think entrepreneurial and begin to develop projects and services while in school.  According to him, so far 7,500 SHS students and their 15,000 tertiary counterparts are currently benefitting from the initiative nationwide. “Under Presidential Pitch 1, over 200 Jobs have been created with funding provided to Young Entrepreneurs between 18 and 35 years with brilliant business ideas. “Twenty young entrepreneurs were also assisted last year with funding, ranging from ¢25,000 to ¢50,000,” he said. Under the Presidential Pitch 2, Dr Awal said over 800 applications were received, of which 20 of them were selected. Ten made it to the final with funding between ¢25,000 to ¢60,000. President Akufo-Addo made a personal donation of ¢40,000 to the overall winner. The President explained that these awards are grants, and not loans, and represent the continuing demonstration of government’s commitment to providing seed capital for some of the nation’s enterprising youth to enable them to run successful businesses. He explained that the importance of the entrepreneurial mindset cannot be overemphasized. “Entrepreneurship is a vital component of economic growth and has been embraced globally as one of the most important drivers of development. “There is now a firm recognition amongst governments and international organizations that the development of entrepreneurial talent is key to addressing the challenges of unemployment, especially youth unemployment,” the President said.