NEIP equips 100,000 youth with vocational skills

The National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP) has unveiled a project aimed at creating 120,000 jobs after training 100,000 in skills areas. 

The programme, dubbed “Skills for Jobs Project”, and launched in Accra last Thursday, will provide skills directly to 100,000 youth across the country in various vocations, and result in 20,000 indirect jobs to be created by the principal trainees.

The Chief Executive Officer of NEIP, Kofi Ofosu Nkansah, mentioned some of the areas of training as cereals processing, yoghurt and local drinks processing, cosmetics, baking, beading and jewellery, décor, makeup artistry, mobile phone repairs, key cutting, closed-circuit television (CCTV) installation, general soft skills and entrepreneurship training.

He said the Skills for Jobs project was an expanded version of the vocational skills programme the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, tasked the agency to undertake to offer female porters, popularly known as “kayayei”, under the Kayayei Empowerment Programme.

Mr Nkansah said having successfully trained 5,000 of such female youth, the Skills for Jobs project was now being expanded to cover an additional 100,000 youth across the country in those skills areas.

The NEIP CEO disclosed that since 2017, the programme had provided business development support to about 250,000 beneficiaries, given starter packs to 35,000 businesses, and funding support to about 15,000 businesses, which had combined to create about 100,000 jobs.

Entrepreneurship

Mr Nkansah explained that as a government flagship agency for providing integrated support to startups and small businesses, NEIP believed that youth entrepreneurship was the key to unlocking the potential of the country’s young people, adding that “it is the key to creating jobs, stimulating innovation, and solving real-world problems”.

Consequently, he said, NEIP would continue to use its resources and platforms to nurture the can-do spirit of budding entrepreneurs through its training programmes and interventions to deliver crucial support in the entrepreneurship space.

The NEIP CEO expressed gratitude to Dr Bawumia for his vision, leadership of convictions, and his unfailing faith in the Ghanaian youth. 

“We wish all prospective beneficiaries the best, and we believe with the skills they will acquire, they will have the power to shape their destinies by creating jobs for themselves and for other young people,” he added. 

Skills

The Deputy Minister of Finance in charge of Wealth Creation, Dr Stephen Amoah, admonished the prospective beneficiaries to take advantage of the initiative and commit to using the skills acquired for their benefit and the country’s development.

“The only way Ghana can grow today is acquiring a skill that can guarantee your today, tomorrow and the generation to come.

“So, if you don’t commit yourself to learn this and do something for yourself, don’t blame anyone in the future because without having the skills and knowledge, ask yourself: what will you do?”

Workforce

Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Youth Employment Agency, Lydia Atiemo, said in today’s fast-paced and ever-evolving world of work, it was imperative to equip the country’s workforce with the requisite skills necessary to succeed as a nation.

With technical skills in demand, she said, the initiative recognised this reality by instilling confidence in the youth through hands-on expertise, fostering entrepreneurship and enhancing self-sufficiency.

She called on all Ghanaians to subscribe to the initiative to learn the skills for their benefit.