Tradeline Consult, in partnership with Finance Factory (FinFact), has launched the Jobs for Youth, Profit for SMEs (JoY-PS) Programme, an ambitious initiative designed to build the capacity of one million young graduates, create 10 million jobs and increase business growth and profitability for 20 million SMEs across Africa by 2040.
The programme seeks to address youth unemployment and SME growth challenges by equipping young graduates with business development, entrepreneurship and job market skills through an intensive training and deployment model.
In Ghana, the JoY-PS programme will run for five years. It is set to empower 35,000 graduates (7,000 annually) from universities, technical institutions and potentially from the Ghana Enterprise Agency’s Business Advisory Centres and Business Resource Centres (GEA BACs/BRCs) across all 16 regions.
These graduates will be trained as Business Development Officers (BDOs) to provide vital business advisory support to 100,000 SMEs by 2030 as Phase 1 of the project.
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The programme will also facilitate the setting up of 5,000 sustainable enterprises geared towards the creation of over 500,000 jobs in Ghana within the next five years through its job placement, business advisory and entrepreneurship tracks called Bapx.
Business failures
Speaking on the impact of the project, the CEO of Tradeline, Sam Zeph Atiemo, noted that out of the estimated 2.1 million SMEs in Ghana, 85 per cent of them operate informally, with poor financial management and governance structures, leading to high business failure rates and limited opportunities for expansion and growth.
He said only 10 per cent of SMEs currently leverage external business advisory services (BAS), severely limiting their business and economic growth and access to vital financing.
"JoY-PS is a game-changer for Africa’s youth and SMEs. By equipping young graduates with the right skills and directly linking them to businesses, we are creating employment and strengthening the foundation of SME growth across the continent.
“We are determined to bring hope and wealth to the youth, it is now or never,” he said.
Key stakeholders
To achieve its vision of creating sustainable employment opportunities across all 54 African countries, the JoY-PS Programme seeks to partner with key stakeholders, including but not limited to The Mastercard Foundation, European Union, African Development Bank, GIZ, KFW and other strategic investors and partners.
In Ghana, the project will be done in collaboration with CEO Africa, the National Service Secretariat (NSS), the National Youth Authority (NYA), Tertiary Institutions, the Ghana Enterprise Agency (GEA), the Ministry of Trade and Industry, financial institutions such as Stanbic Bank, GCB Bank, Fidelity Bank, Absa Bank Ghana and SMEs to scale the initiative for maximum impact.
In June 2024, Tradeline Consult launched the JoY-PS programme to address youth unemployment and enhance SME profitability in Ghana.
To date, 100 young graduates recruited from five universities across Ghana have been trained and placed with over 1,000 SMEs in 16 regions, providing BAS support and generating over $50 million for SMEs and organisations under the programme and increasing sales to over $100m for SMEs.