Ghana’s Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) are being urged to redirect more resources towards youth-led enterprises, as gaps in financing, market access and business development support limit the ability of local economies to generate jobs.
Mr Nicholas Awotwi, Director of the Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS), said assemblies must move beyond providing infrastructure and an enabling environment to actively investing in young businesses through incubation, entrepreneurship training, financial assistance and business development services.
The shift, he said, could help convert local economic opportunities into viable businesses, strengthen domestic production and ease pressure on the national labour market.
Speaking at a breakfast meeting organised by the ILGS in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs in Accra, Mr Awotwi said national statistics indicated that one in every three young people was unemployed, while Ghana needed to create between 300,000 and 500,000 jobs annually to absorb its growing youth population.
He said the country’s 261 assemblies had each identified three economic potentials, but many had yet to commit adequate resources to developing those opportunities into commercially viable enterprises.
The gap, he said, was not simply a lack of business opportunities but the limited financial and institutional support needed to turn them into productive economic activities.
An ILGS three-year social experiment across five municipalities has supported young entrepreneurs in agribusiness, fish farming and poultry production with between GH¢60,000 and GH¢75,000, alongside entrepreneurship training and assistance with business registration.
The initiative examined how local governments could partner businesses and young entrepreneurs to create sustainable employment.
The findings point to the importance of combining financing with practical business support, particularly for enterprises that need working capital, technical guidance and reliable markets to grow.
For Ghana’s local economies, such interventions could help expand small businesses, strengthen agricultural value chains and create opportunities for young people to earn incomes without depending entirely on formal-sector employment.
Mr Awotwi proposed that each assembly support at least 100 youth-led enterprises through incubation and entrepreneurial training.
If all 261 assemblies adopted the proposal, it would translate into support for 26,100 businesses. Assuming each enterprise created two to three jobs, the initiative could potentially generate between 52,200 and 78,300 jobs.
These figures represent a potential outcome rather than confirmed job creation and would depend on the number of businesses established, their survival rates and their capacity to recruit workers.
Mr Awotwi also called for improved reporting of jobs created by assemblies, saying employment outcomes should become a more visible measure of local economic performance.
He urged the assemblies to support locally produced goods and connect youth-led businesses to markets being developed under the government’s 24-Hour Economy initiative.
He further proposed dedicating part of the District Assemblies Common Fund to local economic development, while strengthening internally generated funds and establishing flexible partnerships to finance businesses.
Madam Rita Naa Odoley Sowah, Deputy Minister of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, said assemblies needed stronger capacity to connect young entrepreneurs to finance, markets, technical support and commercially viable opportunities.
She said infrastructure and effective public services were important for business activity but would not automatically translate into productive investment and sustainable employment.
Findings from ILGS action research, she said, had identified inconsistent support for youth enterprises, inadequate working capital and weak market linkages as major constraints.
The Ministry was considering a framework to strengthen district economic analysis, improve youth enterprise support, connect existing industrial facilities to supply chains and build the capacity of local government officials.
Madam Sowah said the Ministry would also review guidelines for using the District Assemblies Common Fund to ensure that allocations supported local economic development.
She called for stronger collaboration among sector ministries, assemblies and development partners to align national employment programmes with local economic needs.
Under Section 12(1)(c) of the Local Governance Act, 2016 (Act 936), promoting local economic development is a statutory responsibility of District Assemblies.
The challenge, however, is to translate that mandate into sustained funding, accountable enterprise support and measurable commercial outcomes.
For Ghana, a stronger local enterprise model could widen the base of small businesses, stimulate production outside major urban centres and improve the capacity of local economies to generate jobs and incomes.
The effectiveness of the approach will ultimately depend on whether assemblies can move beyond identifying economic potential to providing the capital, market connections and business support that allow enterprises to survive and expand.
