Accra, May 21, GNA – Mr. Sheriff Ghali, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs, has urged the Government to engage the private sector, especially young entrepreneurs, when creating startup programmes for the youth.
He said that would help them generate special programmes that were in tune with their needs and challenges, as well as those which would be sustained even when government changes.
Mr. Ghali said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Science and Technology Policy Research Institute’s (CSIR-STEPRI) Policy Dialogue on MSMEs programmes and their impacts in Ghana.
The dialogue formed part of a CSIR-STEPRI project dubbed, “Distributional Impact of Innovation and SME Support in Ghana,” which sought to evaluate MSMEs programmes over the years.
It also fostered dialogue between policymakers, researchers, programme implementers, and entrepreneurs on how to refine existing MSME support programmes.
Mr. Ghali said though such initiatives were intended to address the challenges that startups and young entrepreneurs faced, it could not do so effectively without their involvement.
“Government over the years have come up with brilliant innovative programmes, which have not been sustainable in the long run. The reason why most of these programmes are not sustainable, despite the brilliance behind them, is the fact that the private sector is not fully engaged so they do not feel part of it,” he explained.
Mr. Ghali said he was hoping the current government would do things differently this time around, and engage the private sector fully as co-creators in the design and implementation of its “Adwumawura” programme.
Dr. Justina Onumah, Senior Research Scientist, CSIR-STEPRI, said the policy dialogue provided a timely platform to reflect on the role of innovation support programme in advancing inclusive and sustainable enterprise development.
“As Ghana continues to position MSMEs at the centre of its economic transformation agenda, it is imperative that future policies are grounded in rigorous evidence, tailored to the country’s specific socio-economic context, and responsive to the diverse realities of Ghanaian entrepreneurs,” she added.
She argued that because there was low monitoring and evaluation of those initiatives, over the years, they were not sustainable.
She called for the creation of an MSME profiling system that would enable policy makers and implementers match beneficiaries according to their specific needs and interests.
News Source : GNA