The Chief Executive Officer of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP) John Ampontuah Kumah says government has rolled out a GH¢50 million funding opportunity for 5,000 startups in the country.

This initiative forms part of the presidential business support program aimed at providing integrated national support for start-ups and small businesses.

Speaking to GhanaWeb at the launch of the third presidential business window in Accra, the NEIP boss John Kumah said his outfit is set to grow new businesses with financial and business development services.

“We are seeking to train an average of 100 beneficiaries per district, so when you multiply that by the 260 districts that we have in the country it will be 26,000 beneficiaries. It starts tomorrow and ends on June 31.”

“The objective of this is also to provide 5,000 beneficiaries a funding opportunity of 50 million cedis,” he explained.

He added that startups who qualify for funding will receive amounts ranging from GH¢5,000 to GH¢50,000 cedis.

“Previous year we gave out high amounts, but this year we have decreased the amount beneficiaries can get but we have also increased the number of people who can benefit. These are not grants but funds that will be repaid.”

The NEIP boss further stressed that the financial assistance being granted to startups comes at an interest of 10 percent.

“We know that all over the world nobody is able to run a business with his or her own pocket money. So we have to inculcate the culture of repayment in young entrepreneurs so that when they know how to work with borrowed funds, they will be able to work with funds from commercial banks too.”

The National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP) is a flagship policy initiative of the government of Ghana with the primary objective of providing integrated national support for start-ups and small businesses.

NEIP primarily focuses on providing business development services; startup incubators and funding for young businesses to enable them to grow and become successful.