The Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA) has launched an entrepreneurship empowerment programme to improve the livelihoods of various SMEs in the Nanton District of the Northern Region.

The project dubbed Business in a Box (Biz in a Box), a four-year project, is to provide jobs for at least 250,000 youth between the ages of 15 and 35.

Speaking at the project launch, under the theme “Empowering the Youth for a Better and Brighter Future,” the District Director of Ghana Enterprises Agency, Mr. Amin Abdul Basit, said the project comes with 5 key interventions, including skill development, access to market, access to start-up kits, youth social network and institutional development.

He noted that the youth skill development is classified into three main categories - an Apprenticeship to Entrepreneurship, Agric and Agri-business to Entrepreneurship and MSME Business Acceleration.

Mr. Abdul Basit said under the Apprenticeship to Entrepreneurship, unskilled youth interested in skills development will be matched to skilled craft persons for technical and vocational skills training, saying that 75,000 unskilled youth will be targeted under this intervention.

Under the Agric and Agri-Business to entrepreneurship, the GEA District Director said the intervention will train 125,000 unskilled youth in Agriculture Colleges and farms.

Mr Abdul Basit said, the MSME Business Acceleration will support 50,000 existing women owned businesses with access to markets, adding that, the project will link these 50,000 women entrepreneurs to market opportunities through trade shows, E-commerce platforms, social media and other platforms.

Again, Business in a Box will support 125,000 skilled youth with start-up kits and social networks, adding that this intervention will ensure the youth, women and persons with disabilities have a network to support their activities.

The Business in a Box project, according to the Nanton GEA Director, places a strong emphasis on skill development for women and youth, with the goal of enhancing the capacities of PWD associations, women, and youth.

“The project will provide 40, 000 participants with regulatory support and access to business formalisation”.

The Member of Parliament for Nanton Constituency, Alhaji Mohammed Hardi Tuferu, urged businesses in the area to take advantage of the project to improve their lot, reiterating that the project seeks to boost businesses and encourage entrepreneurship and skills development in the constituency.

The Nanton MP noted that, the Business in a Box project is one of the interventions of the government to provide an enabling business environment for businesses to strive, especially in the districts, where access to credit facilities has been difficult.

He urged business owners in the area to treat the Business in a Box as a matter of financial urgency to improve their livelihoods.

Hardi Tuferu noted that the intervention will not only boost skill businesses but will also put money in people's pockets.

The District Chief Executive for Nanton, Abdulai Muktada, entreat businesses in the district not to sit idle but to embrace government interventions such as the Business in a Box project to grow their businesses, adding that, the NPP government, since its inception, has brought various interventions to support businesses to grow.

The Nanton DCE is however optimistic that business owners will take advantage of the benefits associated with the project.