Ghanaian youths looking for employment opportunities in the government sector have been urged to rather make the effort to create own jobs, become entrepreneurs.

Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, who made the call, said “you should not think of getting employment and obtaining salary, but you should think of possibly becoming entrepreneurs who can open your own businesses.”

Stressing that wealth is in the private sector, he indicated that “creating your own business is more sustainable that getting employment in the government or public sector where salary cannot sustain you.”

Speaking at the Job, Career Entrepreneurship Fair in Kumasi on Thursday, the Regional Minister mentioned that “globally, the industrious people are mainly private entrepreneurs and not from public sector and it was time for the unemployed youth, especially the graduates, to endeavour to create own businesses.”

The two-day event which started on Thursday and ended yesterday and organised by the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), has seen huge crowd of youth trooping to the Prempeh Assembly Hall to interact with employers for vacant positions.

According to the Regional Minister, the labour force in Ghana was about three million, but “government or public sector does not employ even one million, so if your focus is on government employment, then there is the need to think twice to become an entrepreneur.”

He indicated that government, when it took power, realised the huge army of unemployed youth, especially graduates, and introduced the Nation Builders Corps (NaBCo), which had given permanent jobs to some beneficiaries

He said government was still bent on recruiting another batch “but as you look for government employment think of creating your own business.”

Chief Executive Officer of the YEA, Justin Kodua, mentioned that the essence of the Agency was to create temporary jobs for the young men and women in the country, “but we are moving ahead toward a new direction whereby we are looking at permanent jobs for the youth.”


He was full of hope that if participants would pay special attention to the details of what was transpiring, “definitely you will go home with something.”

Mr Kodua said GHC10 million had been earmarked to support those whose business plans and ideas would excel to set up their own businesses. 

He assured the youth with artisanal skills of recruitment as the Agency has rolled out such programmes as well as more room for those who would want to go into agriculture.

On agriculture, he said, “We are not talking only about farming, but also processing, distribution and export” and urged those with interest in agriculture to take advantage of the opportunity. 

FROM KINGSLEY E.HOPE, KUMASI