The NEIP was set up with an allocation of $100,000,000 (One hundred million dollars), exclusively to provide business development services, startup incubators and funding for young businesses, to enable them grow and become successful.
NEIP under the erstwhile John Mahama government was called Youth Enterprise Support (YES), with a track record of training only 103 applicants, giving 66 out of the number loans to operate, during their 8 years in government. The YES initiative, was age restrictive, and not open to everyone. This he said, changed since the NPP government took over, and was open to entrepreneurs regardless of their age, as long as they had capacity to enter into agreements with the Institition.
Within the first two years of the assumption of office of the NPP government, 19,000 business startups went through training, with funding for 4,350 entrepreneurs.
This year alone, 26,000 entrepreneurs in all the 260 districts nationwide, are recieving training after which 5,000 businesses will be given financial support.
This he said, had helped the country’s youth unemployment rate reduce drastically.
To ensure the continuity of the programme, beneficiaries of the programme are given from 3 months to 3 years, depending on the kind of business ventured into, after which they are required to make monthly payments with 10% interest per annum.
Lawyer added that he strongly believed that the Nana Akufo-Addo government deserved another 4 year term because so much had been achieved in the first Three and half years alone, a clear indicator that the country would see tremendous progress if allowed to run for four more years under his leadership.
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