Entrepreneurship - An Antidote to Unemployment?

The hopes of the several tens of thousands who graduate from our various educational institutions each year are dashed due to the limited employment opportunities in the public sector.

In order to provide alternative opportunities for the graduates and others who are willing to venture into their own businesses, government continue to provide the requisite support and incentives needed to help them find their feet.

One such opportunity is the Presidential Pitch Programme which on Monday supported 10 business start-ups owned by young entrepreneurs, under the age of 35, with a total amount of GH¢350,000 .

In addition to the capital funding, the start-ups would be supported through business incubation hubs and mentorship programmes to enable them succeed.

The 10 entrepreneurs came top after an initial screening of 2,000 applications during which they presented their business ideas, ranging from agro-processing and agribusiness, technology, greenhouse projects, housing and construction, to health, to a panel to justify why the government should support their businesses.

Vanessa Aisha Lima, a 19-year-old, emerged the winner of the programme and was given an amount of GH¢50,000, to support her agribusiness start-up and received a further topped up of GH¢25,000 from President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

The Ghanaian Times commends the government for the initiative which would give these start-ups more than they could have achieved in the public sector as the initiative has opened a window of opportunity for the young entrepreneurs.

We also celebrate the young entrepreneurs, who did not rest on their oars, but dared to venture into entrepreneurship which some adults were not willing to go near because of its associated risks.

Entrepreneurship is indispensable. Every economy that has experienced rapid growth has had of a vibrant private sector. Ghana is not an exception as the sector employs many youth.

As the President noted at the ceremony, the youth of today, have to their disposal technology that they could leverage on to excel in their chosen line of businesses.

Indeed Google, SnapChat, Instagram, twitter and Facebook and other social media sites are themselves classic examples of small technological tools for business start-ups that had grown to become mega companies.

We share in the President's belief that small start-ups could grow to become big companies and create sustainable jobs if they are given the necessary support by the state.

As we commended the government for the support and the entrepreneurs for the show of bravado, we need to ensure that the investment do not go waste- that would be a financial disaster.

The government must put in place measures to monitor the progress of the businesses and provide timely solutions to challenges as they were bound to face.

It, is, in so doing that, we could celebrate without any doubt that we are making the right investment.

We once again laud the government for giving the young ones the capacity to fish and not give them fish for one. We look forward to that day when more and more young people especially unemployed graduates taking advantage of such opportunities to do something for themselves.

We look forward again to success stories from these duding entrepreneurs in future.

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