YES Project will provide livelihood for youth – CEO

Ms Helga J M Boadi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Youth Enterprise Support (YES) Programme , has given the assurance that the programme will help provide sustainable livelihoods for the Ghanaian Youth.

The YES Programme is among the Government’s initiatives launched by the President, to provide support to Ghanaian Youth who have brilliant ideas, but cannot find the necessary support to start up with their own businesses.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Bolgatanga, to climax the 10th Regional Business Proposal Plan Clinic for the Youth, the CEO stressed that Government had learnt a lot of lessons from the mistakes of past interventions, and had put in place stringent measures to ensure that the YES Programme achieved its ultimate objectives.

She explained that as part of the measures, her outfit has embarked upon regional tours to all the 10 regions of the country, to conduct Business Proposal Plan Clinic exercise for the Youth, to ensure that when given the support, they will go into profitable ventures to sustain their livelihoods.

“The Government is committed to ensure the effective implementation of the YES Programme to empower the youth to go into viable enterprises. Skills gaps have been identified as one of the major challenges confronting many of the youth.

The project will support such youth to undergo skills training before supporting them to establish their enterprises”, CEO stressed.

She stated that apart from helping the Youth to restructure their business plan proposals before the final submission for the support , the meeting with the Youth is to orientate them about the programme, assess their eligibility , visibility , tangibility and financial strength, so as to map out the way forward to support them.

Ms Boadi expressed optimism that the programme will help curb the spate of unemployment among the Youth in the country, stressing that her outfit will continuously embark upon monitoring and evaluation exercise to ensure that the Programme makes significant impact on the livelihoods of the Youth.

“The YES Programme which is on-going, will also focus on the President’s Special Initiative at promoting the consumption of made-in-Ghana goods, since the Youth will be trained and encouraged to embark upon business ventures in that direction,” she indicated.

She stated for instance, that the Programme, will train and support the Youth who are interested to go into poultry and vegetable farming, and encourage them to take advantage of the opportunity.

She admonished the participants that to be successful entrepreneurs, they need to be resourceful, particularly in the area of skills training, and stated that the YES Programme is a full time business.

Ms Boadi urged the Youth who would want to get enrolled in the programme, to be more committed to the cause.

Mr Quarcu Jantuah Boateng, the Operations Manager of the YES who took part in the facilitation process, said the programme was meant for the direct benefit of the Ghanaian Youth, and urged Ghanaians to desist from associating it with Politics So far, the Programme had received a total of 1, 048 proposals from the 10 regions, with 63 of them coming from the Upper East Region.

Among some of the Business Plan Proposals presented by the Youth in the region i were animal rearing and guinea fowl production, rice processing, vegetable oil production, sheanuts picking and sheabutter processing, sachet water production.