A Ghanaian economist and fiscal policy analyst, Julius Gyimah, has entreated the government to set up a business advisory service to help run the newly launched youth employment initiative sustainably.
The Business and Employment Assistance Programme, launched on Monday by Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia envisages offering jobs to some 20,000 youths with support to some 10,000 businesses in the country.
According to Dr Bawumia, the initiative is to add to the already 2.1 million jobs created to alleviate the unemployment challenges in the region.
History, nonetheless, has not been on the side of the government for the many interventions contrived, as many have failed to yield the intended results with time.
Julius Gyimah, against this backdrop, suggested that an advisory service be set up to ensure that the programme is run effectively and sustainably.
According to him, the beneficiaries of such programmes are predominantly from the informal sector of the economy who are not professionally inclined to keep records of their business activities when offered the opportunity.
Therefore, “[The YEA] should not only look at advancing the money to the beneficiaries. They should have a help desk that will look at consulting; that will look at rendering accounting services to these entrepreneurs”.
“Some of them will not have the professional knowledge in trying to keep their books, manage their books, record transactions. Make sure at the end of the day they have something to check their records. They wouldn’t have incomplete records.
“Then when these things are done to them, periodic workshops and seminars given to them, then they would know that clearly they are doing something professional and then they will be responsible to the economy,” said the economist on Accra-based station 3 FM, monitored by Angelonline.com.gh.
