Draft National Entrepreneurship Policy Workshop held in Accra
The Minister of Business Development, Dr Ibrahim Awal has expressed worry about the growing number of unemployed graduates in the country, saying government will not relent in its efforts to improve the situation.
He said out of about 120,000 graduates produced by universities across the country every year, only 10,000 got employed.
The Minister, who was speaking at a stakeholder consultative workshop on Draft National Entrepreneurship Policy in Accra, yesterday, however indicated that failure to get employed did not mean one could not be successful.
The policy is aimed at promoting entrepreneurship and easing the funding constraints for both start-ups and businesses that were already in progress.
Dr Awal urged the youth to be entrepreneurially minded because “government cannot do all alone that is why we keep partnering with the private sector to reduce unemployment. We will keep creating an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.”
He explained that, the creation of the Ministry of Business Development alone showed how passionate government was about creating jobs and wealth for Ghanaians, especially the youth.
A senior consultant at Shawbel Consulting Limited, Mr Julian Owusu Boakye, said the National Entrepreneurship Policy would institute measures and encourage all manner of entrepreneurs to innovate through human resource development and capacity building mechanisms.
He indicated that the policy actions would enable government take steps to bridge the gap between academia and industry in Ghana, by ensuring that entrepreneurs were offered formal subjects through community, rural and apprentice training programmes.
“Government will ensure that teacher training institutions incorporate entrepreneurship and innovation in the training and licensing examinations for teachers and continue to pursue innovative and exciting ideas for the youth, to encourage more interest in setting up their own business,” Mr Boakye added.
The consultant revealed that, in collaboration with its partners, government would under the policy, also organise and conduct a special business training programme to provide basic intermediate and advanced skills training to promising entrepreneurs.
He was confident that when the attitude of entrepreneurship is successfully inculcated in the country, unemployment and poverty would reduce reasonably.
By Raissa Sambou
