Regional News of Thursday, 4 January 2018

Source: Prosper Agbenyega

African American philanthropist creates job avenue for Hwidiem youth

James Carl Kennedy James Carl Kennedy

An African American philanthropist, James Carl Kennedy, who is also a Development Chief of Hwidiem in the Ashanti Region, has initiated a project in collaboration with KnB Products Ltd, to create employment for the youth of the area.

Carl Kennedy, known as Nana Amo Kantinkrau, disclosed that, the initiative would see him buying products from KnB Products Ltd, to be given to the youth of the area to sell. The income from the sales, capital and profit, would be channeled into projects for the community.

The initiative would also see KnB selling its gel, hand washing soap, hair pomade and skin care products to Carl Kennedy at a highly subsidized price as part of its contribution to the partnership for the development of the area through job creation.

According to James Kennedy, who prefers to be known as an American African, “part of the proceeds would be used to finance the education of the children in the Hwidiem area and beyond. Some orphans and needy children would also benefit from this initiative”.

Mr. Collins Obeng Agyare, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of KnB Products Ltd, said his company would train some of the youth to manufacture the products so they could be set up after training.

“The initiative is part of our corporate social responsibility in partnership with Mr. Kennedy, to respond to the needs of the community and the nation at large,” Mr. Agyare noted.

Mr. Agyare, called for support from government, corporate bodies and philanthropists like Kennedy to support the initiative for the betterment of the living conditions of the people.

Since 1999, James Carl Kennedy has been undertaking development projects at Hwidiem, where he has built a toilet facility for the local Primary School, procured computers and connected the school to the internet and supported the educational and health needs of many deprived pupils. He has also adopted some children in the area.

He is one of the founders of KnB Products Ltd and in 2013, while in he was in Ghana to start a branch in the country, he lost his business partner Ken Berry.

He is hopeful the initiative would bring relief to many of the unemployed youth in the area while helping the community undertake some development projects with proceeds from the sales of KnB range of products.

He advised Ghanaians to patronize KnB products as their contribution to the success of the initiative.