The largest network on young entrepreneurs in Ghana has officially been espoused as members of the Private Enterprise Federation.

The Private Enterprise Federation was established in 1994 as the apex institution to forge consensus and provide the leadership voice for advocacy, on the initiative of the Association of Ghana Industries, Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ghana Employers’ Association, and the Federation of Associations of Ghanaian Exporters; with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The Ghana Association of Bankers (GAB) was later admitted as the fifth founding member and the Ghana Chamber of Mines (GCM) was also added as a member later on.

Four (4) new members namely, Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications (GCT), the Ghana Insurers’ Association (GIA), the Association of Oil Marketing Companies (AOMC’s) and the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Operators Association (GLiPGOA) have joined the Federation as full-fledged members since October 2012. The latest members to join is the Association of Small Scale Industries (ASSI), the biggest informal association and the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD), were also admitted as members by the Governing Council in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

PEF as a non-profit, non-political, autonomous institution and a Company Limited by guarantees under the Ghana Companies Code, Act 179, has its membership open to all private businesses and trade associations from both the formal and informal sectors of the economy. Five new applications for membership including that of the biggest informal sector association are pending for consideration and approval by the Federation’s Governing Council.

GCYE who shares in the vision and mission of PEF applied for a membership and was recently approved by the governing board of the Federation.

According to the CEO of GCYE Mr. Sherif Ghali, “this is a great opportunity for us as budding young entrepreneurs to learn from captains of the industry and to tap into the rich advocacy level of the Federation to drum home our concerns and policy recommendations.”

He added that, young entrepreneurs should consider this as a milestone and join the Chamber to have their concerns reached decision making bodies and amplify their network to accelerate their business growth.

The Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs (GCYE) is a network of young Ghanaian business owners with interest covering every sector of the private enterprise.

As an advocacy group, GCYE was formed with the primary objective to unite, engage, and promote initiatives and innovation of young entrepreneurs to facilitate support in their pursuit of economic prosperity.

GCYE aims to drive trade, advocate for reforms, provide business support services with needed information on funding source to facilitate access to credit and improve the business eco-system for the enhancement of entrepreneurship culture among young people in Ghana.

The GCYE is duly registered with the Registrar Generals Department and the National Youth Authority (NYA) with a membership of 7500 across the nation. The GCYE is an associate member of Commonwealth Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs-West African (CAYE-WA).