By Solomon Gumah
Dalun (N/R), Nov 29, GNA – A total of 125 young people drawn from the Northern, North East and Savannah Regions have undergone entrepreneurship training to develop their skills.
It was further to develop their mindset to create their own businesses to help reduce youth unemployment in the country.
The week-long training, which ended on Thursday at Dalun in the Kumbungu District of the Northern Region, was organised by YEFL-Ghana, an NGO, in collaboration with the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA) as part of the implementation of the Empowerment for Life Programme (E4L Programme).
The E4L Programme is being implemented by four local partners; Ghana Developing Communities Association, School for Life, YELF-Ghana, and Changing Lives in Innovative Partnerships, with funding support from Civil Society in Development (CISU) through Ghana Venskab, a Danish organisation.
The trainees formed the first cohort, and an additional 125 young people forming the second cohort would also undergo similar training to bring the total number of beneficiaries to 250.
Following the training, Field Facilitators of the E4L Programme in collaboration with GEA would continue to support the beneficiaries through mentorship to enable them to start their own businesses.
Mr Abdul-Jabaru Mohammed, Programme Manager, E4L Programme, speaking during the training, said it was to economically empower the youth to play vital role in the development of their communities and the country as whole.
He said throughout the four-year period (2024 to 2027) of the E4L Programme, a total of 1,500 youth in 10 districts in the three regions would benefit from the training.
The districts are Yendi, Gushegu, Zabzugu, Tatali-Sangule, West Gonja, North Gonja, Sawla-Tuna-Kalba, West Mamprusi, East Mamprusi and Yunyoo-Nasuan.
Mr Mohammed said “Our expectation is to see that there is individual transformation, but we are looking at going beyond the 1500 participants. We know that entrepreneurship goes beyond just running businesses. We are also looking at solving problems in the communities to create a value that solves a problem in the community, that also creates employment for yourselves and recruit other young people.”
He said the training approach was used during the phase four of the E4L Programme (2020 to 2023) where out of a total of 650 youth, who underwent the training, 550 “Were able to either expand if they were already running business, and diversified their businesses, and those who were not having businesses, were able to establish their own businesses.”
Madam Bridgette Sheini, Head of Business Advisory Centre under the GEA in the Kumbungu District, introduced the trainees to available government support packages to the youth and women to help start and grow their businesses and for their businesses to become economy changing ones.
She advised them to make effective use of the Business Advisory Centres in their districts to seek the necessary support and clarifications to help in establishing and running their businesses successfully.
Sumani Tijani Issah, one of the beneficiaries from the West Mamprusi Municipality, lauded the training saying he had acquired skills and knowledge to help him create a value to contribute towards the development of society.
He expressed gratitude to the E4L Programme saying, “I think they are doing a lot to empower the youth to become useful to themselves and the society in which they find themselves.”
Miss Adijatu Shaibu, another beneficiary from the Sawl-Tuna-Kalba District said based on the knowledge acquired, she was optimistic that within the next five years, her business would be where she wanted it to be.
GNA