The National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) has facilitated the creation of 18,600 jobs in the country since 2017, Mrs. Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, the Executive Director of the NBSSI has said.

In addition, the NBSSI with support from the MasterCard Foundation is implementing a project which seeks to create 39,000 jobs for young men and women in the country within three years, with 70 percent of females as beneficiaries.

MasterCard Foundation is one of the largest private organisations in the world which seeks to advance learning and promote financial inclusion to create an inclusive and equitable world.

Mrs. Yankey-Ayeh disclosed this in a speech read on her behalf at the Bono Regional launch of the NBSSI/MasterCard Foundation’s Young Africa Works Project in Sunyani.

The three-year project has three components – Innovative, Creativity and Entrepreneurship (ICE), Apprenticeship to Entrepreneurship (A2E) and the Micro Small Medium Scale Enterprise (MSME) Business Acceleration components.

The ICE aims at transforming 25,000 young men and women into successful entrepreneurs, A2E seeks to equip and train 8,000 businesses, while MBA seeks to fast track the growth and productivity of 2,000 MSMEs within the project implementing year.

Mrs Yankey-Ayeh explained that the provision of decent jobs for young people was a major component enshrined in the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to assist and guide member states as they delivered on their respective mandate.

“At NBSSI, we view this initiative as timely and an avenue to promote innovation, creativity and entrepreneur development, particularly at a period when the global economy has taken a nose-dive owing to the outbreak of the Coronavirus disease”, she said.

She expressed optimism that the project would add on to the “already expansionary entrepreneurship ecosystem in Ghana and make a strong position for the nation to leverage its entrepreneurship development agenda to create jobs, wealth and grow the economy as we aim to attain a Ghana beyond Aid”.

While thanking the MasterCard Foundation for the project, which would help address unemployment and boost the national economy, Mrs. Yankey-Ayeh reiterated the commitment of NBSSI to collaborate accordingly with relevant stakeholders and the Foundation to grow and develop the MSME sector of the country.

Mrs. Evelyn Ama Kumi-Richardson, the Bono Regional Minister, lauded and commended the Foundation for the project and hoped that with support from stakeholders, the NBSSI would implement it successfully to achieve desired results.