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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

Politicians, parliamentarians, young entrepreneurs, and, indeed, taxpayers in Ghana have been debating the proposed introduction of an ‘Electronic Transaction Levy’ or ‘E-levy’ in recent days, following the presentation of the 2022 Budget Statement to Parliament by Minister of Finance Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, on November 17, 2021. The debate on the E-levy’s justification, fairness, and utility is at an impasse, and positions have become polarised. The 2022 budget, coming under the theme ‘Building a Sustainable Entrepreneurial Nation: Fiscal Consolidation and Job Creation,’ seeks to introduce several bold policy initiatives designed to restore macroeconomic stability, focusing on fiscal and debt sustainability in a callous economic environment. In a Twitter Space organized by the Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs to solicit the opinions of Young Entrepreneurs on E-levy, opinions were divided. According to some of the participants, the introduction of e-Levy isn’t a bad idea given the economy’s current stage and since it will serve as a means for the Government to raise funds for developmental projects, especially youth entrepreneurship development. However, they did not support the 1.5% rate and have since asked that the Government reduce it to 1%. Also, they propose an increase from 100 to 500 daily threshold. According to them, many small businesses were still recovering from the impact of COVID and hence, slapping a 1.5% e-levy sound hash. Some also believed that systematic failure brought about by the Government’s inability to widen the tax net to capture the informal sector is enough grounds for the Government to focus on finding better solutions to capture more people within the tax net than introducing this e-levy. The lead discussants were Mr. Richard Addison of Kent Investments and Agriprenuer Enyonam Manye of the Ghanaian Farmer. Rep from the Mobile Money Venders Association and a host of other key Young Entrepreneurs joined the discussion. The #YouthForum was hosted by the Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs CEO, Mr.Sherif Ghali.

The newly appointed President of the Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs, Mr. Richard E. Addison, has called on government to decentralize all youth entrepreneurship policies initiatives. He said this in his new year message to members of the Chamber and young Ghanaian entrepreneurs. 2022 is a year for young entrepreneurs as the Government roll out many youth entrepreneurship policy initiatives. According to the Young Entrepreneur, these interventions are laudable. However, Government should ensure they get to discerning young entrepreneurs in all corners of the country. “Let us make sure these good initiatives like the YouStart, Ghana CAREs Obaatanpa, etc., are not centered in only Accra and Ashanti but the whole of Ghana. Let’s make sure those in the hinterlands get the support as well,” he stated. Mr. Richard E. Addison also used the opportunity to call on Government to ensure that all the youth entrepreneurs’ policies interventions are spread across the country for all entrepreneurs to benefit. “I call on Government to ensure that all interventions for young entrepreneurs and startups to be distributed fairly. We want transparency so that all young entrepreneurs and startups across Ghana will be able to know these interventions, know how to access them and where to go and sign up to access them. I will also appeal to the Government to keep things transparent and show us which districts have benefited from these interventions. “Let us make sure these good initiatives like the YouStart, Ghana CAREs Obaatanpa, etc., are not centered in only Accra and Ashanti but the whole of Ghana. Let’s make sure those in the hinterlands get the support as well,” he added. Read full statement below: A Happy New Year. Today, My and My team at GCYE would like to extend our New Year’s greeting to every young entrepreneur in Ghana and across the world. As we begin the year, I hope to look back at 2021 before talking about the prospects of 2022. The year 2021 was another year that saw the world greatly affected by COVID-19. Lockdowns and declarations of a state of emergency in many countries and regions placed restrictions on economic activities and our daily lives. Amidst this, The Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs, through partnerships, we were able to implement several projects that support the businesses of Ghanaian young people in diverse ways. As the new President of the Chamber, I am very encouraged by the steady progress, and I wish to express my sincere appreciation to everyone for putting in your best. Looking at the prospects of the new year 2022, I call on young people to come together to develop homegrown ideas that can solve our problems so we won’t continue to rely solely on the central Government. This year, the Chamber will be embarking on projects that will provide financial support to young entrepreneurs, build their capacity, and help youth transition to green and agriculture. We’ve already initiated a funding project dubbed; Young Entrepreneurs and Support Fund (YESS Fund), which seeks to be a sustainable funding pool for young entrepreneurs. Our flagship Youth Agriculture project (Brafie Youth Agric Project) will follow soon. Brafie will be one of the biggest agricultural revolutions of the year. Through Brafie, young people will return to their communities and have land to invest in farming. Also, the Young Entrepreneurs Summit and Expo is coming back bigger and better. The Summit, now renamed to Youth Entrepreneurship and Innovation Summit and Expo (YEIS), will showcase the products and innovations by young Ghanaian entrepreneurs and create an avenue for emerging and established businesses to meet under one umbrella to network and form lasting partnerships. I use this opportunity to call on Government to ensure that all the excellent youth entrepreneurs’ policies interventions are spread across the country so all decerning entrepreneurs can benefit. Let us make sure these good initiatives like the YouStart, Ghana CAREs Obaatanpa, etc., are not centered in only Accra and Ashanti but the whole of Ghana. Let’s make sure those in the hinterlands get the support as well. To our development partners and all stakeholders, we anticipate stronger partnership and collaboration as we continue to promote youth entrepreneurs in the country. We, as a chamber, have declared this year to be a year of financial support for youth businesses. With the government funding projects and our initiatives and partners, access to finance should not be a bigger problem for youth businesses in 2022 Thank you. Richard Addison President

The National Entrepreneurship and Innovations Programme-NEIP has announced an application for young Ghanaians 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. An application portal has been launched on the website (www.neip.gov.gh)and the social media platforms (@NEIPGHANA) of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme-NEIP. The application is open from the 11th of January to the 5th of February 2022 for prospective applicants to apply. The applicants will be taken through training for one month, shortlisted applicants will be funded after the training. This phase will solicit application from the following sectors under Agric Business. · Vegetable Farming · Maize Farming · Poultry/Livestock · Yam/cassava · Agro Processing The Ghana CARES (Obaatan pa) programme is an unprecedented, bold and audacious GHȻ100 billion post COVID programme to stabilise, revitalise and transform Ghana’s economy to create jobs and prosperity for Ghanaians over a three-year period. It is sequenced in two phases: a Stabilisation Phase that is running from July to the end of the year (2020); and a medium-term Revitalization Phase from 2021-2023. The first phase of the programme builds on the actions already taken by the Government under the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme, including stabilisation 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 revitalising and transforming the economy from 2021-2023 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 optimising the implementation of Government flagships and key programmes among others. To apply for the support, click on https://bit.ly/3qhEGcT  

The Ghana Chamber of young entrepreneurs and GIZ AgriBiz project signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to embark on projects that will position the chamber to serve the interest of its members better and improve revenue to efficiently and sustainably manage the affairs of the association. As part of the agreement, there will be capacity building for leaders and members and logistical support. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs, Sherif Ghali, signed on behalf of the chamber, while the Project Manager for the Sustainable Employment through Agribusiness (AgriBiz), Miss Marie Von Schlieben, signed for the AgriBiz Project in Accra.

At the just ended Annual General Meeting of the leadership of the Chamber, Mr Richard E Addison was appointed Acting President of the Chamber. Mr Addison, until his appointment, has been an ardent member of the Chamber since 2018 and have contributed immensely to the development and growth of the Chamber extolled as Ghana’s premium network on young entrepreneurs. For the next year, Richard Addison will work closely with both the Executive arm and Secretariat of the Chamber to achieve the set goals and objectives. He will be supported by the current CEO of the Chamber, Mr Sherif Ghali, in delivering his mandate.  It will be recalled that Mr Sherif Ghali, for the past years, has played both the role of CEO and President of the Chamber. He will now focus on the administration and operationalization of the Chamber, whiles Mr Richard Addison focuses on the functionality and provides leadership to the Chamber for the following year. Profile of Richard Addison Mr Richard Addison is a farmer who cares a lot about youth and community development.  His 50-acre rice farm, which started as a 30 acre in the Sharma District in 2014, employs over 100 locals from land preparation, planting, harvesting, and milling to transporting produce to the market.  Farming and agricultural ventures are not just business for Richard Addison; they are ways to impact people’s livelihood positively.  When not on the farm, Mr Addison and his team at Kent Systems specialize in revenue mobilization for district assemblies, finding solutions to increasing revenues through internally generated funds (IGF). Richard has been managing The Richard Addison Foundation (TRAF) for the past decade. This non-profit organization focuses on projects ranging from farming, provision of water to the renovation of schools in deprived communities.  Mr Addison’s goal as a farmer is to produce Ghanaian staples in large quantities to reduce the importation of food crops into the country.  Apart from pushing the youth into venturing into the agricultural, his focus is finishing his rice mill in the Shama District to help localize the processing and branding of rice harvested from Kent Farms as Koaba Rice; for everyday life use.

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.

The Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs, Private Enterprise Federation, National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan, National Youth Authority, Youth Employment Agency, and GIZ Ghana have announced the Young Entrepreneurs Summit & Expo 2021(YES2021) comes off Next month from 18th to 20th November 2018 in Accra. The YES2021 will run with the theme: “Supporting the Implementation of AfCFTA; the Role of the Youth and Green Businesses.” The three-day event will bring together over 500 young entrepreneurs from across the nation to conduct analysis, provide policy recommendations on supporting the youth to leverage the AfCFTA, and dialogue on safeguarding the environment by adopting green business principles. YES2021 will also provide a platform to deepen the discussions on how Ghana can address its perennial youth unemployment issues by investing in youth entrepreneurship. New to this year’s edition is the addition of an expo, time with selected captains of the industry, which is all geared towards connecting young entrepreneurs to opportunities such as mentorships, investment, and partnership. It will be recalled that in 2018 the National Youth Authority Collaborated with the Commonwealth Alliance of Young entrepreneurs- Ghana chapter to organize the maiden edition. The Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, H. E Dr.Mahamudu Bawumia, and other dignitaries graced the occasion. Young entrepreneurs who want to participate or exhibit their products/ services will have to register for free at the GCYE website. The CEO of the Chamber, Mr. Sherif Ghali, indicated that they would provide accommodation and feeding to selected participants. “This is the largest gathering of young entrepreneurs in Ghana and so we invite all young entrepreneurs across the country register to participate. We will be providing accommodation and feeding to selected participants.” He spoke