The Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA) has supported 16 entrepreneurs and three business associations with ¢880,000.

The funds are intended to support the working capital needs of the beneficiaries and/or purchase equipment for business expansion.

GEA conducted visits to the sites of each beneficiary under the pilot phase to verify their existence and details as stated in their application.

Through the site visits, the agency confirmed the amount requested by applicants and verified the expenditure items presented.

The government of Ghana's YouStart programme was successfully piloted from 14th to 18th of February 2022 to 85 young entrepreneurs across Ghana.

The pilot began with a 5-day training programme for selected beneficiaries at the Crystal Rose Ambassador Hotel in Kumasi. Afterwards, participants were invited to pitch their business ideas to a panel of Government delegates. 

The YouStart pilot provided the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA) and National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP) with an avenue to train and evaluate the business ideas of participants as well as test the systems and procedures to be deployed, ahead of the formal launch of YouStart in August, 2022.

Curbing Youth Unemployment

The YouStart programme is the government's flagship policy for reducing youth unemployment. According to data from the Ghana Statistical Service, 11.5 million people are considered economically active.

Of this number, 1.5 million people are unemployed. The Unemployment rate among the population 15 years and older was, therefore, estimated at 13.4%.

According to the Finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, the government plans to anchor Ghana's post-COVID-19 recovery on young people's renewed hope and dynamism.

The consequence of this will be the realization of a WISER (Wealthy, Inclusive, Sustainable, Empowered, and Resilient) society, with young people more confident about their place in the World.