Former Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has said that great nations are built through ideas from visionary leaders, not by how wealthy individuals are.

Dr Bawumia, who is on a nationwide tour to campaign ahead of the NPP’s presidential primaries, said one of the major issues confronting the youth is unemployment, and emphasised that only great ideas from leaders can create sustainable jobs.

“Ideas build nations, and ideas create jobs,” Dr Bawumia said in Dormaa on Wednesday, as he dismissed claims by some fellow aspirants that their personal wealth could create jobs.

To support his point that innovative ideas create sustainable employment, Dr Bawumia cited several policy initiatives he championed as Vice President — notably the mobile money interoperability system, which he said has generated thousands of long-term jobs.

“Ghana is the fastest-growing mobile money market in Africa. Before mobile money interoperability, there were only about 8 million mobile money subscribers in Ghana. Today, there are roughly 24 million subscribers, which has significantly boosted the mobile money industry and created many jobs,” Dr Bawumia said.

“Through just one of my ideas — mobile money interoperability — over 900,000 mobile money vendors have been registered, creating tens of thousands of sustainable jobs for the youth of our country.”

Indeed, according to the Bank of Ghana’s July 2025 Summary of Economic and Financial Data, the number of registered mobile money agents rose significantly to 923,000 in June 2025, with about 423,000 of them classified as active agents.

Before the introduction of mobile money interoperability, Ghana had only about 107,415 registered agents, as transactions could not be made across mobile networks or between mobile money platforms and bank accounts.

However, the rollout of interoperability — which enabled seamless transactions across all mobile networks and bank accounts — greatly expanded the industry, with agents now operating nationwide.

Emphasising these results as evidence that ideas, not personal wealth, create jobs, Dr Bawumia urged NPP delegates to support his bid, highlighting how his innovative record as Vice President had already transformed the economy and generated employment.

“Just one idea I proposed has created tens of thousands of jobs. This shows that building a nation and creating jobs is not about how much money you have in your pocket — it’s about your ideas. I have demonstrated through my service as Vice President that I have the ideas needed to transform this country if given the chance to serve as President.”