Yilo Krobo youth receive start-up kits
A One Hundred and three (103) beneficiaries of the Apprenticeship Programme, made up of 20 males and 83 females under the Ghana Enterprise Agency (GEA) and the MasterCard Foundation (BIZBOX Project) in the Yilo Krobo Municipality of the Eastern Region, have graduated and received start-up kits at a ceremony held at Somanya in the Yilo Krobo Municipality.
The beneficiaries had undergone intensive training, completed their National Vocational and Technical Institute (NVTI) examinations and received start-up kits to begin their journey in the enterprise space.
Key dimensions
Addressing the beneficiaries, the Eastern Regional Minister, Rita Akosus Adjei Awatey, said the implementation approach adopted by the Ghana Enterprise Agency (GEA) and the MasterCard Foundation Project addressed key dimensions of youth entrepreneurship, innovation and self-reliance, stressing, "I am particularly happy to learn that this project is aimed at equipping about 270,000 youth individuals with women representing 70 per cent of beneficiaries".
Mrs Awatey thanked the MasterCard Foundation for supporting the government's efforts to empower youth with employable skills, thereby contributing to the nation's socio-economic transformation.
The regional minister noted that the government recognised young people as an invaluable human resource whose energy and potential could be harnessed for national development.
It was, therefore, important, she said, to collaborate effectively with relevant stakeholders to implement sustainable policies and programmes that could create meaningful employment opportunities for the growing youth population.
Strategic interventions
Mrs Awatey said that, in pursuit of that objective, the government, under the leadership of President John Dramani Mahama, remained committed to building an economy that works for all, using strategic interventions to promote entrepreneurship, stimulate innovation and create sustainable livelihood opportunities for young people across the country.
The Yilo Krobo Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Francis Akumatey Addo, said he was grateful to the GEA and the MasterCard Foundation, which collaborated with the Yilo Krobo Municipal Assembly to successfully train beneficiaries who would, in turn, help train others.
Mr Addo encouraged them to become agents of change within their communities by sharing the knowledge they had acquired during the training and by supporting other young people seeking opportunities to learn a trade or develop a skill.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Enterprise Agency, Margaret Ansei, asked the beneficiaries to make good use of their skills and the start-up kits they received.
The Eastern Regional Director of the Ghana Enterprise Agency, Eric Kwabena Obeng, in his brief comment, said it was the government's intervention through the MasterCard Foundation that enabled the beneficiaries to receive training.
The apprentices must, therefore, put in their maximum effort to benefit from the training and the start-up kits they received.
One of the beneficiaries from Klo-Agogo, Gladys Awatey, who spoke to the Daily Graphic, said she was grateful to the government and the MasterCard Foundation for making them acquire skills that would promote their economic activities.
