An entrepreneurship expert and
lecturer at the University of Ghana
has doubted the ability of
government’s Youth Enterprise
Support fund to fulfil the objectives
for which it was set up.
Dr Samuel Buame said the fund,
which is aimed at assisting young
entrepreneurs with capital to run their
businesses, is not likely to succeed
because similar and more structured
initiatives had hit a snag in the past.
“The question is if GYEEDA [Ghana
Youth Employment and
Entrepreneurship Development
Agency] couldn’t work, what is the
guarantee that this one [YES] will
work? Because GYEEDA was...a bigger
programme”, he said.
He described as “pea nut” the GH?10
million set aside for the fund.
Government scraped the GYEEDA
initiative last year after investigations
unearthed inappropriate dealings at
the authority.
Government subsequently announced
the initiative was going to be
restructured to make it more effective.
That has since not happened.
The GYEEDA initiative, with its varied
modules, was set up to lessen the
economic pressure on the
unemployed youth in Ghana.
“For a programme like YES to work, it
must have a national entrepreneurial
policy...I can give you the instance of
Malaysia. Malaysia has one and it is
working for them. The question is
why can’t we learn from Malaysia?”,
Dr Buame asked.
He said the current YES programme
as it stands is only “firefighting”.
According to him, although the
initiative seems like “government’s
sincere effort in promoting youth
entrepreneurship”, the fundamentals
were not right.
However, National co-ordinator of the
YES programme, Kojo Adu-Asare told
Joy News’ Kwakye Afreh-Nuamah the
scheme will be successful despite Dr
Buame’s concerns.
“I think Ghanaians should be
positive-minded. Let’s not always
look at the negative side of issues. I
believe that we’ve made mistakes
before and we are prepared to correct
those mistakes and move forward”,
said Kojo Adu-Asare.
He said unlike Microfinance and
Small Loans Centre (MASLOC)
initiative, the mandate of YES would
be to commit funds directly for
startups.
“I don’t think MASLOC has that
mandate to give funds to startup
companies”, the YES coordinator
noted.
President John Mahama on Tuesday
launched the Youth Entrepreneurship
Support Fund as part of activities to
mark the International Youth Day.
The fund, according to government, is
open to anybody who has a good
business proposal that can yield
dividends and repay the loans.
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