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.
