It is noteworthy that relying on the government for employment will render many graduates hungry since there are no jobs to cater for the teeming numbers churned out by the various tertiary institutions each year.
This development has given rise to the cliche that graduates should development the attitude of entrepreneurship in order to make their lives meaningful after school.
However, the lack of entrepreneurial skills on the part of these graduates would not make any difference in tackling unemployment in the country.
For this reason, the host of Maakye on Onua TV, Blessed Godsbrain Smart, known in the media as Captain Smart, is calling on the government to introduce a nonscoring course on business creation to help in that regard.
According to him, the course could begin from the junior high school to the tertiary level to equip students with the entrepreneurial know-how to set themselves up after school.
He says this is the only means that the “the person that studied Acturial Science, Biochemistry and other students would be able to create businesses after school.”
Captain Smart was speaking at the Affinity Ghana-sponsored Onua FM Small and Medium-size Enterprises forum on the theme; Building a Resilient Business in Economic Uncertainty Wednesday, April 17, 2024 at the Executive Theatre of Onua TV in Accra.
He further advised that the government can give about five years tax holiday to new businesses with expert supervision in order to gain grounds before they are taxed. He said the government can provide a comprehensive data to monitor their activities and give them benchmark targets before enrolling them on the tax net.
Captain Smart also proposed models like the Venezuela model, Sweden , Vietnam and other countries’ models as a guide that could help establish build business minded citizens since they inculcated it in the people from childhood.
He said that will help reduce the gap between skills and knowledge since there are people with skills to do so many things but lack the knowledge to implement them.
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Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of Affinity Ghana, Abdul-Jaleel Hussein, also speaking at the programme provided some tips that can help Small and Medium-size Enterprises (SMEs) to thrive in Ghana.
He says although economic indices might not be too favourable for small startups to thrive, it is possible for them to maneuver only if the proper steps are taken in setting up the business.
Disclosing that this country is considered globally as one of the countries with the highest entrepreneurial spirit, especially amongst women, he reemphasised the need for Ghana to consolidate that spirit to maintain that global accolade.
He advised business owners to check viability of their intended merchandise and start with any amount, no matter how small.
“You need to study your environment to know if what you want to do will sell,” he said.
According to him, although some businesses are quite capital intensive, they could be started in their own small ways before they become stable.
He also stressed on the need to be patient and resilient in order to sustain the business. Mr. Hussein counseled that a business will thrive only if the owner is patient and resilient.
“We also need to get an available market because most at times we don’t consider that in setting up businesses,” he advised, adding that, one needs to develop strategies to become competitive on the market in order not to collapse.
He spoke about treating customers well, something that came up at the forum as one of the major factors financial institutions consider in giving out loans since it partly tells whether a business would be able to repay its loan or otherwise, based on how well you can attract customers.
The CEO of Affinity Ghana also advised startups to abreast themselves with regulations and policies that guide the type of businesses they want to venture in, in order not to fall foul to the law.
The forum also took questions and suggestions from the audience and advised on how to navigate the system to help their enterprises flourish.
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