Tradeline Consult, in partnership with Finance Factory (FinFact) is set to create 10 million jobs for the youth through the Jobs for Youth, Profit for SMEs (JoY-PS) Programme.
The initiative is designed to build the capacity of one million young graduates, creating 10 million jobs, and increasing business growth and profitability for 20 million SMEs across Africa by 2040.
The programme seeks to address youth unemployment and SME growth challenges by equipping young graduates with business development, entrepreneurship, and job market skills through an intensive training and deployment model.
A news brief issued by Mr. Sam Zeph Atiemo, CEO, Tradeline Consult said, in Ghana, the JoY-PS programme would run for five years, and it is set to empower 35,000 graduates (7,000 annually) from universities, technical institutions, and potentially from the Ghana Enterprise Agency’s Business Advisory Centres and Business Resource Centres across all 16 regions.
It said these graduates would be trained as Business Development Officers (BDOs) to provide vital business advisory support to 100,000 SMEs by 2030 as phase one of the project.
The statement said the programme would also facilitate the setting up of 5,000 sustainable enterprises, geared towards the creation of over 500,000 jobs in Ghana within the next five years through its job placement, business advisory, and entrepreneurship tracks called Bapx.
Mr Atiemo said out of the estimated 2.1 million SMEs in Ghana, 85% of them operated informally, with poor financial management and governance structures.
He said these leads to high business failure rates and limited opportunities for expansion and growth, adding that only 10% of SMEs currently leverage external business advisory services (BAS), severely limiting their business and economic growth and access to vital financing.
“JoY-PS is a game-changer for Africa’s youth and SMEs. By equipping young graduates with the right skills and directly linking them to businesses, we are creating employment and strengthening the foundation of SME growth across the continent. We are determined to bring hope and wealth to the youth, it is now or never, ” Mr Atiemo said.
He said to achieve its vision of creating sustainable employment opportunities across all 54 African countries, the JoY-PS Programme sought to partner with key stakeholders including but not limited to the Mastercard Foundation, European Union, African Development Bank, GIZ, KFW, and other strategic investors and partners.
The CEO said in Ghana, they would collaborate with CEO Africa,the National Service Secretariat, the National Youth Authority, Tertiary Institutions, the Ghana Enterprise Agency, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, financial institutions such as Stanbic Bank, GCB Bank, Fidelity Bank, Absa Bank Ghana, and SMEs to scale the initiative for maximum impact.
