30 PRESENTED WITH TOOLS TO START BUSINESS (BACK PAGE, OCT 28)

THE Rural Enterprises Project and the Asuogyaman District Assembly have presented assorted start-up equipment worth GH¢1,500 to 30 people who have completed their apprenticeship in various trades in the area.
The incentive is to ensure that graduate apprentices who have undergone their apprenticeship but cannot establish their own businesses due to financial difficulties start them.
The items, which were presented to dressmakers, hairdressers, electrical welders, barbers, auto mechanics and carpenters, included sewing machines, grinding machines, spraying machines, hair dryers, vulcanising machines, among others.
In an address, the Head of the Business Advisory Centre of the Asuogyaman District Assembly, Mr Daniel Owusu Ansah, said the initiative was part of the government’s effort and strategy to alleviate poverty through increased incomes for graduate artisans to set up their own business ventures.
He said the programme was also aimed at equipping the beneficiaries with the requisite knowledge and skills to enable them to efficiently manage their businesses and provide employment for others.
Mr Ansah said since the inception of the programme in the district, about 400 people had already been trained in marketing, small business management, soap making, grasscutter rearing, fish farming, batik and tie and dye making, among others.
He added that the project had supported the people to register their businesses with the Registrar-General’s Department, while 60 master craftsmen and apprentices had been assisted to undertake the NVTI certificate examinations, out of which 15 had received their certificates, with the remaining awaiting their results.
For his part, the District Chief Executive for Asuogyaman, Mr Johnson Ehiakpor, said since the government was committed to eradicating poverty and improving the well-being of Ghanaians, it recognised the potential of the programme to alleviate poverty in the district and the country as a whole.
He said plans were far advanced to establish a service centre in the district to train the youth in various vocations, adding, “This is part of the assembly’s commitment to job creation for unemployed youth.”