In a bid to address the pressing issue of youth unemployment in the country, the Chief Executive of the National Youth Authority, Pius Hadzide, has underlined the importance of encouraging green entrepreneurship.

Speaking at the Young Green Entrepreneurs Forum 2023 on October 5, he emphasized the necessity of creating a favorable environment for young people to venture into entrepreneurship and generate jobs for themselves and others.

Hadzide acknowledged that the traditional public sector might not be sufficient to generate the millions of jobs needed for the nation's youth.

Instead, he urged the government to foster an enabling environment that supports young individuals in becoming entrepreneurs, particularly in sectors related to climate and sustainable interventions.

He emphasized the potential of 'green jobs' and how they provide a comparative advantage for the youth, aligning them with projects and programs aimed at empowering them along various value chains. By monetizing solutions to problems within these value chains, young entrepreneurs can create employment opportunities for themselves and contribute to the country's prosperity.

“That's why we associate with programs and projects that seek to empower the young people can place them along the value chain in any way shape or form, so that they can take advantage of the myriad of problems along the value chain and create the needed solutions, monetize those solutions. And therefore, like I said, create the jobs for themselves,” he told journalists on the sidelines of the event.

The Young Green Entrepreneurs Forum 2023 at the British Council in Accra, revolved around the theme "Empowering Youth-Led Green Innovation: Paving the Path to Ghana's Sustainable Future."

The event provided a platform for robust discussions and networking opportunities to propel sustainable entrepreneurship among the youth.

The NYA Chief Executive further commended the YGEF’s initiatives focused on capacity building, fostering connections, and facilitating access and technical assistance through the event.

“So we commend what's happening here this morning in terms of capacity building in terms of connecting to each other, in terms of getting access, and the necessary technical assistance that are required driving the economy and the opportunities within the climate change and sustainable development arguments for the young people of our country.

The Young Green Entrepreneurs initiative, spearheaded by the Strategic Youth Network for Development (SYND), has a core objective of empowering the upcoming generation of sustainable leaders.

This empowerment is achieved through the introduction and scaling up of innovative solutions, strategically combating the pressing threat of climate change. Additionally, the initiative focuses on facilitating an effective transition to sustainable energy and the development of alternative, eco-friendly livelihoods.

Speaking to the media, SYND’s Executive Coordinator, Ezekiel Chibeze explained this is a three-year programme.

“We've actually engaged them since the beginning of this year. So this is one of the activities we have for the forum. And what we do is that is progressive in a sense that we will take notes of the emerging issues, the new developments to inform another phase of the project. So based on the outcomes of this meeting, that can inform our next steps after the project is concerned, so we don't preempt. We want to follow the process and build up what we're learning as we make progress.”

Thursday’s event was preceded by a fair where various green entrepreneurs showcased their business to the hundreds that trooped the British Council.

Switzerland Ambassador to Ghana, Simone Giger was upbeat about the innovations present and was optimistic about their prospects in the sustainability agenda.

Considering the current turbulent economic climate that Ghana finds itself in, the diplomat found it impressive that young people see the opportunity to solve the problems of climate change and environmental degradation.

“They see this as an opportunity so they are really trying to make the best out of it and they are very creative in their ideas. I find it mind-blowing,” she told JoyNews.

Ms Giger urged the startups to take advantage of the interactions at the event to connect, surge forward and upscale.

“Why this event is also great is because there are different actors along a certain value chain so if they can get together and then make their products even better, if they can join forces, if they can also build a kind of coalition of an alliance that lobbies for a more enabling environment and all that then the impact can actually be scaled.

Another keynote speaker, Managing Director, Zoomlion Ghana Limited Gloria Opoku Anti urged the young people to not relent in their mission to see a sustainable future.

The Deputy Director of Policy Planning at the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, Ernest Berko also called on banks to finance young green entrepreneurs and further advised young entrepreneurs to work in cooperatives rather than being alone.

The panel discussions that ensued at the forum generally represented an opportunity for young persons to wield their influence on green innovations, aimed at promoting environmental sustainability.

It was a chance to shape projects and innovative solutions and actively contribute to the dialogue and decision-making process through which their concerns can be addressed.