A
consortium of nine banks is collaborating with government to provide credit to
existing youth-led companies and, in the process, create one million jobs in
the next three years.
Under the commercial programme of the YouStart
initiative, the banks will provide support for existing youth-led businesses
with between GHc100,000.00 working capital and GHc500,000.00 for those in need
of capital expenditure. Interest rate will not be more than 10 per cent.
Speaking to the media, Mr John Awuah, President of
the Ghana Association of Bankers, listed the participating banks as Ghana
Commercial Bank (GCB), Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG), Access Bank, Absa Bank,
FBN Bank, ADB, Fidelity Bank, Ecobank and Bank of Africa. He was confident that
with time, more banks would come on board.
He said, the community of banks was aware of the
difficulties faced by entrepreneurs in accessing credit, and so the scheme
aimed at making lending conditions less stringent to enable businesses to scale
up and create jobs.
“The banking sector Is convinced that the
Government wants to build an entrepreneurial nation through youth
entrepreneurship. We have decided that this is good, and we want to grow with
the private sector,” he said, adding: “Our advantage is that we are already
dealing with the private sector, so we have a fair knowledge of all that goes
into making a business work.
We are confident that with the well-crafted
conditions we are offering and our ammunition of funding, we can make fund
accessibility easier to enable young entrepreneurs to launch into the deep.”
Listing the conditions for accessing the scheme,
Mr Awuah said it was open to existing businesses whose prime movers were youths
between ages 18 and 40. Entrepreneurs aged above 40 would have to prove that
their employees were SSNIT contributors, and that 50 per cent of their
employees were between 18 and 40. They would also have to show that their
businesses, when supported, will be profitable and create youth employment.
“YouStart will not fund any business that is into
buying and selling,” Mr Awuah said, explaining that “we don’t want to create
import-dependent enterprises.”
He said through the commercial module of the
YouStart programme, young people with business ideas or those who had started
businesses would be trained by professionals at the Banking College, Chartered
Institute of Bankers and other institutions.
Beneficiaries who successfully graduate from the
training will be assisted to obtain product certification and quality assurance
for their products and services, to ensure that their businesses conform to
standards, regulations, and the laws of their industry.
Entrepreneurs will be trained, supported with
business development services, and funded over the next three years.
On how interested applications can access the
fund, Mr Awuah said a website would soon be launched. All a potential applicant
has to do is fill out the form. Successful applicants can access funding
“within a short period after applying.”
The YouStart commercial programme will take off at
the latter part of June.
Source:
Peacefmonline.com/Ghana