By Dennis Peprah
Sunyani (Bono), Oct. 2, GNA – Mr Eric Adjei, Chief Executive Officer of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP), has called on African governments to build integrated and coordinated systems to transform the ideas of emerging entrepreneurs into viable businesses.
He said such systems would enable young African entrepreneurs to take advantage of market opportunities, develop sustainable financing mechanisms for innovation and provide solutions to the peculiar challenges confronting the continent and beyond.
Mr Adjei made the call in a statement issued after attending the opening session of the International Conference on Business Innovation and Incubation, underway at the Walter Sisulu University in South Africa, and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani.
He said Africa was witnessing the emergence of a generation of young entrepreneurs who had embraced innovation and were determined to find solutions to the many challenges confronting the continent and its communities.
“We must move from just identifying innovation to financing, from incubating ideas to building viable and sustainable businesses around them, and from preparing young people to look for jobs to preparing them to create the jobs of tomorrow,” he stated.
“In fact, we are building an integrated support system that connects entrepreneurship training, incubation, mentorship, technology, financing, market access, and partnerships”, he added.
Mr Adjei said: “Our philosophy is straightforward: An entrepreneur does not need money alone; an entrepreneur needs a robust, coordinated and integrated ecosystem to build a sustainable business.
“This is why Ghana’s approach is moving towards building the entire innovative pipeline from the discovery of an idea, incubation and validation, financing, market access, and scale,” he added.
Mr Adjei said the NEIP’s flagship initiative, the “Adwumawura Programme,” remained an important component of that vision.
The first cohort of the programme had supported 10,887 young entrepreneurs with capacity building, business advisory services and mentorship.
He said 3,625 beneficiaries had received grants through a transparent and competitive process managed by an independent Grant Management Committee comprising academics, seasoned entrepreneurs, financial institutions, some ministries and other government agencies.
Beyond the grant support, Mr Adjei said the NEIP was strengthening the financing architecture available to Ghanaian businesses.
In partnership with the Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF), the NEIP had established a fund to provide debt and equity financing to high-impact businesses, enabling them to access patient and growth capital to expand, create jobs and scale up their operations.
Mr Adjei said the NEIP was also promoting entrepreneurship among young people through the Students Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development Programme (SEED), in partnership with the National Union of Ghana Students, the Universities Innovation Hubs (THINK NETWORK) and the National Service Authority.
Under the SEED Programme, 5,000 students would be trained annually across the country, beginning with a pilot in 36 tertiary institutions.
The programme would be implemented in partnership with university innovation hubs and academic institutions to create stronger linkages between entrepreneurship education, innovation support, and the wider university ecosystem.
Mr Adjei said another important component of Ghana’s entrepreneurship ecosystem was the Young Africa Innovates (YAI) Programme, implemented in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme, with funding from the Mastercard Foundation.
Through the YAI Programme, approximately 1,500 innovators had been trained, contributing to the creation of about 4,823 jobs.
GNA
By Dennis Peprah/Bertha Badu-Agyei/Lydia Kukua Asamoah
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