The Youth Enterprises Support (YES) programme is redefining youth entrepreneurship development programmes in Ghana to ensure its sustainability, the Chief Executive Officer of YES, Ms Helga J.M. Aryee Boadi, has said.
The YES initiative was launched by President John Mahama in August 2014, with a seed money of GH¢10 million “to assist young Ghanaians with creative and innovative business ideas and plans to achieve their full potential.”
“YES, however, is looking beyond monetary support to growing young Ghanaian entrepreneurs for life. Our youth are phenomenal, and we would want to hold their hands on a journey. They must think of YES as a journey and not as a destination,” Ms Boadi disclosed in an interview with the Daily Graphic.
Applications
Since November 2014, the programme has received 2048 applications for review. Out of the number, 116 applications were received on-line, while 932 were delivered by hand or received by post.
Six hundred and seventy-eight of the applications were from the Greater Accra Region, 335 from the Volta Region, 167 from the Eastern Region, 154 from the Northern Region and 142 from the Brong Ahafo Region.
One hundred and twenty-eight of the applications were from the Ashanti Region, with the same number of applications from the Central Region. One hundred and twenty-seven of the applications were from the Western Region while 96 and 93 were from the Upper West and Upper East Region, respectively.
Thirty-one per cent of the applications are related to agriculture or agri-business, 45 per cent to the business sector and 24 per cent to the services sector.
Beyond monetary support
The applications are being reviewed by a panel of experts that has representation from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Food and Drugs Board (FDB), Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) and other public institutions and agencies whose collaboration with the YES was described as “wonderful,” by the Chief Executive Officer of the YES
“It is a deliberate and elaborate process,” she said.
She said the applications had to be checked to ensure that applicants met the criteria set, some of which related to age, as the age bracket set for applicants is between 18 to 35 years.
“Also, applications have to be assessed to find out how viable ideas are. But our support goes beyond giving money,” she maintained.
“I believe the focus on monetary support that the public has about YES is wrong,” she added.
She said the focus of YES was to journey with applicants with viable ideas for the long haul, to provide training where there was the need, to provide knowledge to some and also provide the right linkages for others to soar.
She described how an applicant who is into the production of ‘darkwaa ‘(pepper, groundnut and corn cake) but had challenges with packaging had been linked to the CSIR.
She has received the training needed and is now doing great.
Short, medium and long term
Ms Boadi said for the short term, the objective of YES was to get applicants into poultry and the production of tomatoes, onions and pepper.
She said such short-term high yielding productive ventures would ensure that the youth who were supported realised some gain to pay of any funds allocated to them, so that they could be a dedicated revolving fund to extend to other entrepreneurs in the future.
