A section of young entrepreneurs in the country have expressed their sentiments over the YouStart initiative captured in the 2022 budget reading by the finance minister, Ken Ofori Atta.

According to these young entrepreneurs, although the idea of government developing the initiative to address issues of unemployment is a laudable one, they are expectant of its implementation. Some explained that the initiative must rope in rural areas in the country while others asserted that districts assemblies must be involved to ensure apt disbursement of the soft loans captured under the initiative.

The YouStart initiative by government, aside addressing the issue of unemployment, is set to create 1 million jobs in 3 years under the GhanaCARES programme.

Interacting with the Vaultz News, Ignacius Xenya, an event planner, was of the opinion that the idea is “a good one” particularly since the finance minister revealed it’s going to be a “vehicle to support” young entrepreneurs to gain the requisite skills to help them in terms of addressing the issue of unemployment in the country.

Mr Xenya, commenting on the implementing partners of the initiative, such as Ghana Enterprises Agency and the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program (NEIP), opined that these two institutions coming together, would mean that they have had some interaction with some entrepreneurs.

“I believe it’s good but the challenge is whether it’s going to be implemented rightly because the government needs to get a good number of entrepreneurs or people who are willing to undergo a training. Over the years unemployment has been a challenge faced by almost a number of government but this YouStart programme, with regards to implementation, what will make it successful is when the respective district assemblies have a data of the available unemployed youth within their areas and they call for applications”.
Mr Ignacius Xenya

Richard Bimpong, CEO of Eminens lightings, indicated that although the initiative “looks good on paper”, government shouldn’t just target people within the urban centres but look at those in the rural communities. He explained that sectors such as agriculture is “a major boost” for the economy and should be looked at.

“If we are able to get people in the rural sectors who actually need the loans and embark on agriculture projects and get the need revenue, it will reduce the rate at which people are migrating to Accra. I think the percentage should be 60% rural communities and 40% urban”.
Mr Richard Bimpong

Mr Bimpong insisted that selection of persons who qualify for the loans should also be based “on merits and not politically motivated”.

On his part, Bismark Twum, CEO of BT Collections, asserted that government must focus on start-ups that are “sustainable” and not just any business. He indicated that businesses that also meet the Sustainable Development Goal must receive attention from the government as well.

“With the SDG agenda, if your business is solving climate change and problems in the community, shouldn’t it be given more support as compared to the average one that just deals in buying and selling?”
Mr Bismark Twum

Mr Twum revealed that if Ghana is compared to Rwanda, the latter is expanding more in terms of entrepreneurial support and development. He opined that Rwanda is currently building a start-up academy to become a better business which solves problems in their country.

Mr Twum insisted that support, both financial and technical should be there for “innovative” businesses in the country and urged government not to just pay “lip service” to the projected initiative.