The Leadership of the newly launched Commonwealth Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs-West Africa (CAYE-WA) paid a courtesy call to the Presidency of Ghana. The group led by the Program Manager of Commonwealth Secretariat-Youth Division and CEO of National Youth Authority was received by the Vice President at around 5:20 pm.

The CEO of NYA thanked the VEEP for his reception and introduced the team.
Mr. Sushil Ram, Programme Manager, Youth Division at Commonwealth Secretary threw more lights on the Alliance. He indicated that, The Commonwealth Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs (CAYE) is an initiative of the Commonwealth Secretariat which seeks to strengthen and support the ambitions of young entrepreneurs throughout the Commonwealth of Nations. These regional networks ensure they have a combined voice and representation at fora to influence policy development on youth entrepreneurship.

The West African Regional chapter which was launched yesterday in Ghana seeks to champion the cause of young entrepreneurs at the national and regional levels, through its engagement with Governments, the Media, the Public, and other relevant Stakeholders. It will commit to achieving measurable progress towards the development of youth entrepreneurship and innovation within West African sub region.

The Inaugural elected Regional Coordinator of CAYE-WA, Mr. Bernard Oduro Takyi from Ghana and a leading Member of Ghana Entrepreneurs Club (GEC) also commended the Vice President for his warm reception. He added that it will be prudent if Ghana comes out with a working Youth Entrepreneurship Policy that will champion the cause of young entrepreneurs. He also call on the Vice President to leverage on the fact that, “Ghana is the Gateway to Africa” to push policies within the West African sub Region. “I am very happy with the many interventional projects stated in your budget and I so much believe that your government will do wonders when it comes to Youth Entrepreneurship as stipulated in the 2017 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Ghana under Job Creation. We therefore call for a more strategic partnership and cooperation from the Government to enable us create this unique platform for Young Entrepreneurs to accelerate business growth”.

H.E Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia congratulated the team and thanked the Queen for such a wonderful Initiative. He stated that “unemployment across the globe is dominantly a youth problem. Policy must therefore focus on improving the youth socioeconomic conditions. The government however is not the only major actor to solve this, hence the promotion of youth entrepreneurship.

In the same light, the business environment must become friendly across the continent. By so doing, reducing the cost of entering into and doing business is key to youth enterprise. Tax polishing and abolishing has become Ghana's disruptive innovation technique towards a thriving youth economy. Tax collection has simply been shifted to employment taxes where people freely create employment by developing industry in a tax friendly environment, and then the Government will get tax from the salaries of the employees.

Our government is abolishing taxes on all raw material imports, machinery and spare parts to encourage foreign and domestic investments. 70% OF GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT, is allocated to local enterprises, of which 30% allocated to youth enterprises. Ghana is implementing a digital address system to facilitate the digitization of the entire economy" This will go a long way in promoting youth enterprises.

Our young people are just amazing, they blow me away with their world class innovations in technology and other fields. We need to give them a platform to redefine the future of our continent. We are excited about the future only because of the youth”.
The delegation had an equal representation from four member Commonwealth Nations within the West African Sub Region; Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Cameroon.

Mr. Bernard Oduro Takyi – Regional Coordinator, CAYE-WA

National Coordinators:
Cameroon
• Mr Gabriel Mokate Ashu-Arrey – Global Entrepreneurship Corps
• Mr Dominique Yakan Brand – Kiro’o Games
Ghana:
• Mr Sherif Ghali – Ghana’s Young Entrepreneurs
• Mr David Boakye Danquah – Ghana Entrepreneurs Club
Nigeria:
• Ms Andidiong Okon – Andies Candies
• Mr Olalekan Oshunkoya – Alliance of Young Nigerian Entrepreneurs (AYNE)
Sierra Leone:
• Ms Ariana Oluwole – Narnia Educational Group
• Ms Fatima Sesay – Unimax SL LTD