In June, the government will launch the multi-year GH10 billion YouStart programme to combat youth unemployment.
During a news conference conducted by the Information Ministry on Thursday, May 12, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta announced the start of the programme.
He informed Ghanaians that the program’s implementation would demonstrate the government’s efficient use of tax resources.
“Nobody likes to pay taxes, though it is difficult but we all begin to get used to it as we apply the use of the taxes for the citizens to see. We should be launching the You Start Programme starting June, and we will be able to immediately see the deployment of those resources to the teeming mass of some 11million youth to get enterprise employment.”
The government’s main youth employment creation programme was supposed to start in April, but it was delayed due to several issues.
Young entrepreneurs can use YouStart to get funding, training, technical skills, and mentoring to help them create and run their enterprises.
Within the following three (3) years, the Ghana Enterprises Agency (“GEA”), the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (“NEIP”), and partner financial institutions will implement the initiative.
The project would be funded by revenue collected annually from the Electronic Transaction Levy, according to Pius Enam Hadzide, CEO of the National Youth Authority (NYA) (E-Levy).
“Finally, the E-Levy which is the enabler of the YouStart has been passed. I do know that the YouStart seeks to leverage about ¢10 billion, the government would put ¢1 billion per annum…from the E-levy; that is why the E-levy has been passed, it has been stated,” he said on JoyNews.
Ken Ofori-Atta has previously expressed his optimism that the YouStart scheme will have the same impact as the Akufo-Addo-led government’s free Senior High School policy.
Source: The Independent Ghana
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