Global Communities, under the Youth Inclusive Entrepreneurial Development Initiative for Employment (YIEDIE) Project announced twenty 20 youth awardees for its Youth Construction Enterprise Grant (YCEG) at its office in East Legon.

Each of them received GHC4, 900, 00 as a startup capital to go into their own businesses and also create employment.

Princilla Delali Azigi and Ernest Annan were among the lucky beneficiaries who received the grant.

The YCEG is an annual project which comes with a small grant that is to be awarded on a competitive basis to youth beneficiaries.

 The call for proposals for the first batch of Youth Construction Enterprise Grants (YCEG) was open to applicants within the age range of 17 – 24 years with innovative Project/Business ideas within the construction Value Chain.

 All applicants needed to have completed a training session on the YIEDIE project through a six-month technical apprenticeship or 10-session entrepreneurship stream.

 The winning proposals demonstrated great potential for further providing employment for more youth in the construction sector.

As part of the project’s design, the Grant gives opportunities to youth beneficiaries with innovative ideas to build up viable and sustainable businesses within the construction sector.

The twenty youth who benefited from this year’s award will commence their businesses within their respective cities of Accra and Sekondi-Takoradi.

These businesses range from retailing of construction materials to the establishment of welding, carpentry, electrical and block laying enterprises.

 In subsequent years of project implementation, youth within Kumasi, Tema and Ashaiman will who participate in the YIEDIE Project will be afforded the opportunity to apply to the Youth Construction Enterprise Grant.

The Youth Inclusive Entrepreneurial Development Initiative for Employment (YIEDIE) is a 5-year project designed to create economic opportunities in Ghana’s construction sector for disadvantaged youth.

 YIEDIE will directly reach at least 23,700 of these youth with training in technical, life and/or entrepreneurship skills leading to employment.

The program targets 17-24 year old youth in five of Ghana’s six largest cities—Accra, Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi, Ashaiman and Tema.

 Its core objectives are: Increased employment including self-employment in the construction sector by targeted youth, increased coordination and support for a better enabling environment by construction sector stakeholders.

Global Communities is implementing YIEDIE in partnership with The MasterCard Foundation, Opportunities Industrialization Centre Ghana OIC-G, Youth Empowerment Synergy-Ghana (YES-Ghana), African Aurora Business Network AABN HFC Boafo, and Artisans Association of Ghana AAG.

Presenting the dummy check to the beneficiaries the acting of the project Mr. Ebenezer Kye Mensah said despite the booming rate of the construction sector and the real possibilities offer to Ghana’s young people, regulatory and financial market constraints pose some limitations to the opportunities created by the sector’s growth.

It is against this background that YIEDIE has instituted this small start-up grant to encourage our young people to benefit from opportunities in the construction sector.

Aside providing opportunities for these young people to access simple toolkits, coaching and mentoring opportunities would be given to enable them grow and sustain their businesses. Fund will be used selectively with each disbursement supporting multiple youth to start a group business that meets a clear need in the sector.

Youth Inclusive Entrepreneurial Development Initiative for Employment (YIEDIE) program is designed to create economic opportunities for disadvantaged youth in Ghana’s burgeoning construction industry. It is being implemented in by Global Communities through a consortium of partners in collaboration with the Master Card Foundation.