Beneficiaries of the Private-Public sponsored Local Enterprise and Skills Development (LESDEP) programme, have been asked to raise the stakes of small-scale enterprises in the economy of the Volta Region.

LESDEP is a sweeping national skills added-on programme to mop up latent skills, re-train, set up and mentor them into market orientated small-scale businesses with economic clout.

Mr Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), made the call at the passing out ceremony of 700 beneficiaries of the Programme in Ho on Wednesday.

Each of the beneficiaries was given start-up kits depending upon their fields of proficiency.

Mr Afriyie-Ankrah stressed that small-scale producers, which provided for between 70 per cent and 90 per cent of jobs in Ghana, were critical to reducing poverty in the country.

He said the LESDEP was therefore conceived after taking into account failures of similar programmes in the past.

Mr Emmanuel Darlington Drayi, LESDEP, Volta Regional Coordinator, said a total of 2,000 people would be trained and set up under the programme in the Region by the close of the year.

He said the 700 presently passing out were in the fields of beauty care, sewing, barbering, food and catering, mobile phone repairs, photography and are from the Ho Municipal Area, Adaklu-Anyigbe and South-Dayi and Ketu-North districts.

Mr Drayi said beneficiaries were selected after applying through the assemblies and that programme officers would follow up to evaluate beneficiary’s businesses to ensure success.

Mr Henry Ametefe, Deputy Volta Regional Minister, tasked beneficiaries to be astute, cost conscious, modest and customer friendly to enable them break even.

The programme is in collaboration with agencies such as the National Board for Small-Scale Industries (NBSSI), National Youth Council (NYC), the Integrated Community Centre for Employable Skills (ICCES) and the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI).**