Ms Mavis Ama Frimpong, Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, had advised young women graduates to adopt birth control methods to avoid unwanted pregnancies and marriage disappointments that could disrupt their carrier development.

She urged young women to put the skills they had acquired into practice immediately after graduation no matter how little resources they had so as to build the necessary capital to expand their businesses.

Ms Frimpong was speaking at this year’s graduation ceremony of 173 apprentices trained in beauty care and hairdressing by members of the Eastern Regional branch of the National Association of Beauticians and Hairdressers (NABH) at Koforidua.

She said often, when ladies completed their training and started work, they met different partners with many proposals and if one was not careful, those relations ended up in single parenthood with challenges that disrupted their lives for years.

She said it was, therefore, important that young ladies took control of their lives by deciding when they wanted to have babies to protect their future.

Ms Frimpong said government would soon revive the projects that provided people with skills and start-up kits and advised the graduates to join associations so they could benefit from those facilities.

She said technology and fashion were fast changing and urged the new graduates to upgrade their skills to be abreast of new trends in their profession.

Mr Paul Baah of the Koforidua Polytechnic reminded the graduands that their success would depend on their ability to offer high quality services and a unique customer care to maintain their clients and attract others to their salons.

Ms Jane Kwapong of the Women’s Department of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, advised the graduands to start applying the skills they had learnt immediately with the little resources they had and not be disrupted by other social attractions.

The National President of NABH, Mrs Joyce Lamptey, advised the new graduates to join the association to benefit from further training and other activities.