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Tamale, Ghana – Chief Executive Officer of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan (NEIP), John Ampontuah Kumah, has expressed the interest of the state agency to collaborate with the University for Development Studies (UDS) to train some potential youth entrepreneurs.
According to Mr Kumah, the government was putting in place measures to address the overwhelming problem of graduate unemployment in the country through policies that give startup entrepreneurs some form of advantage.
“For instance, there’s a currently a law that gives young entrepreneurs up to five years tax holiday as soon as they register their business. There’s also a law that says that every young entrepreneur can bid for a certain percentage of government contract in any government institution. All these are being done to resolve the unemployment problem”, he stated.
Addressing students of the Department of Development Education Studies of the UDS at their 2018 Entrepreneurship Conference in Tamale, Mr Kumah said the NEIP had received numerous business proposals out of which nearly 500 of came from Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions.
“Very soon, we will be training all these young applicants across the country. We have identified some of the country’s universities where they have entrepreneurship incubating theatres to train them. Those in Kumasi who applied for support from the NEIP will be trained at KNUST. In the Northern Sector, they will gather at the UDS for training”, he said.
Mr Kumah urged the students of UDS to develop cogent and marketable entrepreneurship ideas and approach the NEIP for support. “Once you have an idea that is worth supporting, we at NEIP will give you the support you need because the government has made available some US$10 million to assist such ideas”, he explained.
The Department of Education Studies 2018 Entrepreneurship Conference is an annual programme that seeks to test the practical knowledge and skills of students who study entrepreneurship as part of their training.
Over 300 students, who were divided into 10 different groups, participated in the conference. The groups made presentations on various business proposals they developed in the presence of a three-member panel for assessment.
Head of the Department of Development Education Studies, Alhaji Dr Adams Sulemana Achanso, said the entrepreneurship conference was beginning to address the unemployment needs of some students even before they completed their full course of study.
He however mentioned the lack of sponsorship support towards the organisation of the event which he observed had proven to be a very promising antidote to unemployment since its launch two years ago.
Dr Achanso appealed to the government and corporate organisations that believed in the training of manpower to assist the Department of Development Education Studies build an entrepreneurship incubating hub or theatre where students could be taken through hands-on training in entrepreneurship.
By Savannahnewsonline.com
