The Minister for Business Development Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, on Tuesday presented cheques ranging from GH¢10, 000 to GH¢100,000 to 700 micro, small and medium business owners under the Presidential Business Support Programme Window 2.
According to the minister the 700 beneficiaries are from the five regions of the North. The beneficiaries are expected to grow their businesses and create direct jobs in the next year.
The 700 were selected from 12000 personnel that underwent structured training to build their managerial capacities for various ventures and the beneficiaries are expected to pay back the money with 10 per cent interest.
The programme is being managed by the National Entrepreneurship and Innovative Plan (NEIP) under the Ministry of Business Development.
To satisfy the selection criteria, the business must be of a Ghanaian ownership, a micro, small and medium-scale enterprises either at a set up stage or be an existing business that needs support for growth.
Addressing a section of the recipients here in Tamale, the Minister for Business development reiterated government’s commitment to support the people of the five Regions of the North to grow their businesses, saying “financial inclusion is very important in every economy, and that is how government is focused to improve private sector at the five regions of the North.
He said government is spending GH₵ 6 million to support 700 beneficiaries in the five regions of the north who were trained under the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program (NEIP ). ”The president want to build young people of this country because the young people are the future of this country”, he stated.
The minister explained that the areas of focus ranged from agribusiness and agro processing; information and communication technology, waste management, fashion and clothing and accessories and beauty among others.
The minister also announced that government through his Ministry, intended to spend GH₵10 million next year in the five regions of the North to build young businesses in this part of the country saying “Six percent of Ghanaians are below 30 years. To build the economyyou need to build young people, hence, the President target is to make sure that young people in this country are capacitated”.
Addressing the media after presenting the cheques to the beneficiaries, Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, encourage the young entrepreneurs most especially the beneficiaries to use the money to expand their businesses to create more jobs.
The Chief Executive Officer of National Entrepreneurship and Inovation Programme (NEIP), Lawyer John Kumah, in his address noted that the government was building businesses that would span generations and also compete with other businesses around the globe.
Therefore, establishing National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program (NEIP), under Ministry for Business Development to support young entrepreneurs in the country. He said the program under the effective and innovation minister, government has set up a special US$100 million fund under the Ministry of Business Development to be disbursed through the NEIP program.
The CEO of NEIP also stated that his management received 7,000 applications across country in the first window of the application. He said 1,350 were funded out of the 7000 applicants.
Mr John Kumah said due to the success of the first window of the program, management of NEIP received 12,000 applictions across the country under the second window of the presidential business support program. He said out of the 12,000 applicants, 3,000 were selected across the country to benefit from this year Presidential Business Support Program.
He said NEIP had been able to obtain 90 per cent loan recoveries from the first beneficiaries of the Northern sector. The CEO of NEIP addressing the beneficiaries however commended beneficiaries of the Northern sector for being the top most recovering sector in the country.
He has therefore encouraged this year beneficiaries from the Northern sector to make the recovering beyond the 90 percent.
Source:AlhassanYakubu | www.Diamondfmonline.com |Ghana
