Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Duapa Werkspace, Erasmus Mensah Ackon, has posited that he does not blame the government for the rising rates of unemployment in the country.
In an interview with host, Chelsy Sey on the International Youth day edition of Y97.9FM Takoradi’s Ryse n Shyne, he postulated that to solve the unemployment situation in Ghana, we need a lot of hubs and developmental agencies to support the hubs as they impact the youth because the government cannot do it alone.
Per his observation, gone are the days when the youth had to complain day in and day out about unemployment because now, there are more of these hubs to help in personal skill development so that the youth can venture into their own businesses.
“There are a lot of training programmes that prepare the youth for funding opportunities. Youth start businesses and they’re looking for funding but how prepared are you? They keep complaining that they’re not getting funds and those who have the funds are complaining that they don’t have the people”, he said.
Erasmus concluded on this that the youth who make these complaints are simply not ready and that is why Duapa Werkspace has initiated the Green Incubation project which is focused on preparing the youth in agriculture and any other business to be investment ready.
“You need to have a business plan, you need to have a business module, craft your module and show some traction. You want financing but you haven’t made a single sale on what you’re producing so how do you expect people to invest in that business? You need to collaborate with you peers and start smaller but have the bigger picture ahead of you”, he advised.
The CEO noted that at Duapa Werkspace, there are a series of processes that the youth are taken through like the design thinking methodology, the business module and networking sessions where youth get to collaborate with other peers to possibly start with. Erasmus counseled that instead of going about looking for funds from big organizations to start a business, it is better to collaborate with peers, make some traction and get exposed, build credibility which will in turn generate referrals and with that, sales will increase so much that the big institutions see the footprint and reach out.
By: Maureen Dedei Quaye
