November 2021

Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs (GCYE), Sherif Ghali, has welcomed the government’s 2022 budget proposal to allocate GHS1bn yearly towards advancing the interest of youth entrepreneurs in the country, calling for its effective implementation. “That’s one key thing if we want to solve our unemployment issue in Ghana; the government will need to promote youth entrepreneurs by setting up a support framework for them to be able to have access to finance,” he told Single African Market on the sidelines of the chamber’s three-day summit in Accra. He added: “It’s good that the government has finally come to understand and will be deliberate about supporting youth entrepreneurship in Ghana. We believe that setting up GHS 1bn annually for the next few years will be helpful to youth entrepreneurship.” Mr. Ghali however bemoaned the poor implementation of such interventions as several youth-centered policies and programs have not achieved their intended purpose because they were not led by the private sector. “With this very good initiative, the government should work with organized groups and academia to identify viable young businesses that must be needed the training and funding,” Mr. Ghali said. He also called on the government should also go beyond financial support and make deliberate efforts to help young entrepreneurs sustain their enterprises. “We need to have a database, and identify the various markets outside Ghana that we can produce and supply to as a means of boosting industrial capacity. If we are not deliberate about the AfCFTA, we can push in money alright but others will come in and reap the benefits,” he added.

Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs (GCYE) has organized a workshop for young entrepreneurs in the country to identify and explore existing opportunities in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The three-day summit was also to educate and encourage participants to play an active role, in the single continental market. This year’s summit was on the theme “Supporting the implementation of the AfCFTA; the role of youth and green business” “With the commencement of trade in the AfCFTA and Ghana’s target to promote industrialization, the summit brought together various stakeholders including young entrepreneurs, policymakers, the private sector, and researchers to examine ways and means that the youth and green businesses could effectively participate and contribute to the implementation of the single market,” CEO of the chamber, Sherif Ghali, said of the summit. A panel discussion saw the young entrepreneurs briefed and how to prepare themselves to take advantage of AfCFTA.