President Mahama to award 107 successful YES applicants
The first batch of 107 applicants for the Youth Enterprise Support (YES) programme have been adjudged by an expert panel to have met the criteria to benefit from the support.
President John Dramani Mahama is expected to present the awards to the beneficiaries on August 12, 2015 at the Flagstaff House.
Mrs Helga Boadi, Chief Executive Officer of YES, said this at a press briefing in Accra and explained that, a second batch of 350 applicants will present and defend their proposals before the expert panel for selection soon.
She said the YES initiative, with a seed capital of Gh¢10 million, evolved from the passion of President Mahama, after his realization that creativity, drive and innovation of the youth was the key to national development.
Mrs Boadi said young people aged between 18-35 years, with a minimum of a Junior High School qualification and with a viable business proposal were encouraged to apply to the YES for support.
She said proposals were submitted in September 2014, with a deadline of October 2014, adding that, the first call received an overwhelming response from the youth.
A total of 2, 048 applicants were received by the deadline, out of which 1,116 were submitted through online portals whilst 932 were submitted by hand or post.
Applications were received from all ten regions of Ghana with a sector breakdown of 45 per cent in agriculture, 31 per cent for services and 24 per cent in cottage industry.
Following a screening exercise of applications, regional business clinics were held for applicants from October 2014 to March 2015.
Mrs Boadi said 365 applicants successfully resubmitted their proposals and duly qualified for the final stage of the selection process.
Beneficiaries will be strictly monitored by the YES secretariat and its partner agencies at all stages of their entrepreneurial journey.
Over the past year, YES has held meetings and collaborated actively with the Ministries of Food and Agriculture, Local government and Rural Development, Gender and Social Protection, Youth Sports, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Works, Housing and Water Resources
Meetings have also been held with other relevant agencies such as Gratis Foundation, Ghana Standards Authority, Food and Drugs Authority, Food Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the University of Ghana Animal Research centre and Forestry and Horticulture Research centre.
The YES also collaborated with the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce, with its focus on technology transfer, best practices, direct job placement and route to markets, as well as mentorship and coaching.
Effective partnership has also been established with Africa Lead II, a USAID programme, aimed at providing capacity building skills for the youth farmers towards improving food and crop production.
Mrs Boadi said many people labeled the YES production as just another mass handout of free money and stated that YES is not a mass production line.
It is a strategically targeted youth intervention that aims to identify and support exceptional entrepreneurial potential.
Mr Jonathan Anani, a beneficiary, who is into film production and event management said the amount is provided to each beneficiary depending on the proposal.
Source: GNA