The Youth Employment Agency (YEA) has allocated GHC10million to support startup businesses to facilitate job creation and sustenance in the country.

This was disclosed by the Chief Executive Officer of the YEA, Justice Kodua Frimpong at the 3rd Jobs and Entrepreneurship Pitch session held in Kumasi.

A total of 1,327 positions are said to be vacant in both formal and informal sectors in the Ashanti region.

The YEA hosted the fair to help bridge the unemployment gaps. It was organised in partnership with the Netherlands Development Organization, SNV.

The job fair was also aimed to bring together employers and job seekers to discuss opportunities for gainful employment.

Mr. Justice Kodua Frimpong, indicated that the job fair features a mock interview session and an entrepreneurship programme to equip participants with relevant skills.

“We have HR managers here to take them through CV preparation. This is because we have realized that a lot of people do not know how to prepare good CV’s, which limits the opportunities for them to be employed.

The public sector is choked and we have to rely on the private sector. We have entrepreneurship advisers here who will go through the business plans the youth have submitted. At the end of the day, those who will excel extremely will be supported by YEA and NEIP,” he said.

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah noted that although the current labour force of Ghana is almost 13 million, the public sector employs less than 1 million people.

He therefore advised the youth not to depend on public sector jobs but harness their entrepreneurial skills.

“Think of possibly becoming an entrepreneur who can open his/her own business, because there’s money in the private sector. Globally, over 90% of rich people are in the private sector,” he said.

Stakeholders believe that the job fair, if continued, can help reduce the unemployment rate in the country.