The Chief Executive Officer of the newly inaugurated National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan, Mr. John Kumah has explained why the current government renamed the Youth Enterprise Support to its current name.

Former President John Dramani Mahama in April 2014 established the Youth Enterprise Support (YES).

The YES initiative, was in fulfillment of President Mahama's 2012 campaign promise and also a flagship programme which was meant to assist young Ghanaians with creative and innovative business ideas and plans to achieve their full potential.

The initiative was a multi-sectoral one which operated under the office of the President and drew collaborative support from key agencies including; National Board for Small Scale Industries, National Youth Authority, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Finance.

It provided funding for Ghanaian youth between the ages of 18 and 35. The YES initiative also provided the beneficiaries with effective training and Entrepreneurial mentoring that helped grow their businesses.

A seed capital of GH¢10 million was allocated for the initiative.

But, the current administration under the leadership of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo re-launched the initiative under a new name, National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan.

President Akufo-Addo at the launch said US$10 million has been allocated as seed money for the Programme.

Mr. John Kumah explaining why the name was changed said, the YEA was meant to help a particular group of persons whiles the current one has been expanded to support any enterprise by every Ghanaian irrespective of the age.

Speaking in an interview with Kwame Tutu on Rainbow Radio 87.5Fm, Mr. Kumah said a lot of young people benefited from YES and some of them started their businesses including poultry, piggery, shoemaking, ICT and different programmes.

According to him, some of the beneficiaries have been able to successfully manage and sustain their businesses after the support they received from YES and are looking forward for an expansion of their outfits.

Through YES, a greenhouse estate was also established at Dorwenya and Ghana is currently undertaking the biggest greenhouse farming in the West Africa Sub-region and it was through the same fund by the previous administration.

‘’We are building on the success of this programme and we projecting that by next year, 100 of the domes will go to every region which will lift it to 1000 in the country; so Ghana will get a high capacity for vegetable production for export. It is true that the previous administration started something, it made impact to a level and the Nana Addo led administration want to expand it to benefit others. To create more jobs and reduce unemployment, we have to expand the initiative. We want to at least create 5000 jobs per year,’’ he said.

According to him, government is gearing towards creating sustainable jobs under this integrated programme.

‘’This is a bigger version or an enhanced version of what we used to know under YES,’’ he said adding, “there are available evidence to prove that YES was successful and the current administration will build on that success.”