May 2022

The Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs (GCYE) has indicated that over 400 of its members who applied for the Government Obaatan pa Youth in Innovation Agriculture funding programme have been selected for the next phase. Speaking at the chamber’s head office, the CEO, Mr. Sherif Ghali, expressed gratitude to the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP) for the transparent and impartial manner in selecting eligible applicants. He employs other Government implementing agencies to imitate NEIPs steps to ensure support is given to genuine entrepreneurs and not overnight entrepreneurs or political party faithful as perceived by many. He explained that qualified applicants are currently undergoing training at various hubs and are expected to graduate by the end of the month. He said that after the training, successful applicants will receive funding support after some background checks by NEIP. In conclusion, he admonished the NEIP to ensure the final selection process would be fair and transparent as the previous. He also advised young entrepreneurs and selected applicants to be careful of fraudsters as they(fraudsters) take such opportunities to dupe people. “Only act on information or directives coming from NEIP concerning the process. If you are unsure, please call their office to verify before proceeding.” He said It will be recalled that the Ministry of finance and NEIP, in January 2022, announced an application for young Ghanaian entrepreneurs to apply for the first phase of “YOUTH IN INNOVATIVE AGRICULTURE SUPPORT” under the GHANA CARES “OBAATAN PA” PROGRAMME. The programme seeks to enlist young people between the ages of eighteen (18) to forty (40) Years who are into Agriculture to be trained and funded. Beneficiaries of the programme will receive an amount ranging from Ten Thousand (10,000) to One Hundred Thousand (100,000) Ghana Cedis. The Ghana CARES (Obaatan pa) programme is an unprecedented, bold, and audacious GHȻ100 billion post-COVID programme to stabilize, revitalize and transform Ghana’s economy to create jobs and prosperity for Ghanaians over three years. It is sequenced in two phases: a Stabilization Phase run from July to the end of the year (2020); and a medium-term Revitalization Phase from 2021-to 2023. The first phase of the programme builds on the actions already taken by the Government under the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme, including stabilization of the economy, ensuring food security, supporting businesses and workers, strengthening the health system, and passage of legislation to facilitate quick economic recovery. The second phase aims at revitalizing and transforming the economy from 2021-to 2023. It will focus on supporting commercial farming and attracting educated youth into agriculture, building Ghana’s light manufacturing sector, developing engineering/machine tools and ICT/digital economy, developing Ghana’s housing and construction industry, reviewing and optimizing the implementation of Government flagships, and key programmes among others.

Cyber-attack is one of the significant but silent killers of many Small and Medium Enterprises in Ghana. A nationwide survey conducted by the Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs and its partner, SNV Ghana’s European Union-funded grEEn project, reveals that more SMEs in Ghana are gradually falling prey to cybercriminals.   The survey discloses that about 43% of Small and Medium Enterprises in Ghana have suffered Cyberattacks from 2020 to 2021. This was announced at a multi-stakeholder dialogue held in the Ashanti Region last week. In a presentation, Cyber Security Expert Mr. Abubakar Issaka, who doubles as President of Cyberwatch Protection Ghana, indicated that SMEs who suffered at the hands of the cybercriminals lost money and some vital information on their businesses worth thousands of Cedis.  He added that the survey also unraveled that most SMEs got attacked more than once. “This means that the cybercriminals have made the Small and Medium Enterprises sector a lucrative arena for their attacks, hence the need for practical actions to avert further attacks.” As part of his presentation, the Cyber Security Expert provided safety etiquette to be espoused when one finds themself in cyberspace. He thus urged players in the Small and Medium Enterprises sector to take Cyber-attack (Cyber Crime) issues very seriously and invest in their Information System management. He (Mr. Abubakar) expressed his gratitude to the Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs and SNV Ghana’s European Union-funded grEEn project for bringing forth such nationwide engagement, which is still going on in other parts of the country. He appealed to stakeholders, the Cyber Security Authority, Government, NGOs, and Civil Society Organizations, among others, to support the advocacy of Cyber Security so that the challenges Cyber Crime poses to SMEs and Ghana at large can be mitigated if not eradicated. This, he says, will ensure a Cyber Safe Ghana. Also published by Ghanaweb

Youth-owned Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) want government to ensure services provided by business support institutions such as the Registrar General Department (RGD), Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority effectively decentralized.  At a just ended nationwide multi-stakeholder dialogue on business registration and certification, they called on the government to ensure the offices or services of these regulatory agencies are extended to the various districts for easy access and cost-efficiency.  This call comes on the back of a survey that the Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs undertook. The survey report revealed that most SMEs in Ghana are not able to register their businesses or acquire other business-related certifications, licenses or permits because of the associated high costs and inaccessible offices or services. The survey report presented by the Chamber’s Chief Executive officer, Sherif Ghali, revealed that more youth-own SMEs are formalizing(registering) their businesses.  https://642c1b6364ff73492d70d62468254c63.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html However, they are faced with challenges such as high cost, cumbersome procedures, extortion, unbearable turnaround time, rampant system downtime, poor customer service, inaccessible offices, middlemen (Goro boys), fraud, unfriendly online portals, and Lack of coordination between agencies. The dialogue sessions were held in the Ashanti, Northern, Western, and Greater Accra Regions by the Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs and its Partner, SNV Ghana, under the European Union-funded GrEEn Project. Stakeholders deliberated on solutions to challenges SMEs faced in the business registration and certification process. It also offered stakeholders the opportunity to reflect on intriguing findings from the survey on the business regulatory environment in Ghana. Similarly, cyber security was a prime area for discussions as SMEs were taken through cyber security measures to ensure their operations are safe within cyberspace.  Published by JoyNews . Check it Out on JoyNews