The writer
WHAT MUST HAPPEN NOW: Six Non-Negotiable Actions
- Empower the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) as Central Coordinator
Ghana already has the Youth Employment Agency (YEA). Instead of creating new structures, mandate YEA as the central hub for all youth employment data, policy coordination, and accountability across government.
Give YEA the authority to:
- Collect and consolidate youth employment data from all ministries and agencies
- Coordinate programmes across Finance, Education, Trade, Agriculture, and other sectors
- Set unified targets and track progress against them
- Report quarterly directly to the President and Parliament
The CEO of YEA should work independently but collaboratively with all ministries, functioning as the nation’s chief youth employment coordinator—not competing with other agencies, but ensuring they all pull in the same direction.
No more scattered programmes across twelve ministries with no one in charge. YEA becomes the quarterback.
- Publish the Numbers—All of Them
- Within 60 days: a public dashboard showing:
- Current youth unemployment by region and sector
- Quarterly job creation targets
- Training programme outputs and job placement rates
- Financing disbursed versus applications received
- Which programmes are working and which are failing
Transparency breeds accountability.
- Scale or Stop
Every pilot programme gets 12 months to prove impact. If it works, scale it nationwide within 24 months. If it doesn’t, shut it down and reallocate resources.
No more permanent pilots that train 500 people annually while millions wait.
- Reserve Real Opportunities for Youth
In every industrial park: 20% of contracts reserved for youth-owned businesses.
In every major government procurement: youth enterprise quotas.
In every PPP negotiation: mandatory youth hiring and training commitments.
Not charity—guaranteed access.
- Build Full Entrepreneurship Pathways—And Leverage What Already Works
Stop treating credit as a magic solution. Instead, build comprehensive support:
- Months 1-3: Business skills training and mentorship
- Months 4-6: Product development and market testing
- Months 7-9: Access to finance with continued support
- Months 10-12: Market linkages, export readiness, procurement access
Year 2+: Growth capital and expansion support
Leverage existing innovations: Instead of reinventing the wheel, partner with proven platforms. For example:
- Channel youth financing through platforms like SecondSTAX (connecting startups to diaspora capital)
- Use existing fintech solutions for digital payments and bookkeeping
- Connect YEA beneficiaries to established incubators and accelerators
- Link the One Million Coders Programme to actual tech companies hiring
Government’s role isn’t to do everything—it’s to enable, connect, and scale what’s working.
End-to-end support, not isolated interventions.
- Make the YEA CEO Answerable with Real Authority
The Youth Employment Agency (YEA) CEO should be given:
Direct reporting line to the President and Parliament (quarterly public reports)
Cross-ministerial authority to demand data, coordinate programmes, and resolve bottlenecks
Measurable annual targets with genuine consequences for failure
Independence to speak truth about what’s working and what isn’t
Someone’s job must depend on whether Abena, Kwame, and Fatima get opportunities. The YEA CEO should be that person—empowered, equipped, and accountable.
GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK: WHAT GHANA CAN LEARN FROM THE WORLD
This week, as Ghana celebrates Global Entrepreneurship Week alongside 200+ countries, we have a unique opportunity to benchmark our approach against global best practices—and honestly assess where we stand.
What High-Performing Ecosystems Do Differently
Countries successfully creating youth jobs through entrepreneurship share common elements Ghana’s budget mentions but doesn’t fully operationalize:
Rwanda’s Approach:
- Single digital portal connecting youth to every government support programme
- Mandatory startup quotas in government procurement
- 72-hour business registration (Ghana: still weeks or months)
- Results: 80,000+ youth-owned businesses in 5 years
Estonia’s Model:
- Every child learns coding from age 7 (Ghana’s budget promises this—let’s deliver)
- Startup visa programme attracting global talent
- Digital-first government reducing bureaucracy to minutes
- Results: Highest startups per capita in Europe
Kenya’s Success:
- M-Pesa ecosystem enabling youth digital entrepreneurship
- County-level innovation hubs with consistent programming
- Diaspora linkage programmes for skills and capital transfer
- Results: 1 million+ youth in digital economy
What These Countries Have That Ghana’s Budget Promises But Hasn’t Delivered:
Speed – Fast registration, fast approvals, fast disbursements
Integration – All support systems connected, not scattered
Data – Real-time tracking of what works and what doesn’t
Access – Rural youth get same opportunities as urban youth
Follow-through – Programmes scale or shut down; no permanent pilots
Ghana’s Entrepreneurship Reality Check
During Global Entrepreneurship Week, let’s be honest about where we are:
What We Celebrate:
Young Ghanaians winning global startup competitions
Tech innovations gaining international recognition
Creative industries breaking into global markets
Agricultural entrepreneurs feeding the nation
What’s Already Working—And Needs Scaling:
Take SecondSTAX, co-founded by Eugene Tawiah, former VP at Goldman Sachs and a Ghanaian diaspora returnee from New York, currently closing its fundraising round to launch what could become the “NASDAQ of Africa”—a Pan-African cross-border capital investment platform using financial technology which could connect early-stage businesses with global diaspora investors.
This is exactly the kind of innovation Ghana’s budget should actively support. A platform like SecondSTAX could:
Enable thousands of Ghanaian startups to access capital from Africa’s $200+ billion diaspora economy
Reduce the 6-12 month capital access timeline to weeks
Connect youth entrepreneurs in Tamale or Takoradi directly to international investors
Create transparent, regulated pathways for investment into Ghanaian ventures
But here’s the gap: Innovative platforms like SecondSTAX often build despite the system, not because of it. Imagine if the 2026 Budget actively:
Provided regulatory clarity and support for fintech innovators
Channeled some Development Bank Ghana financing through proven platforms
Connected YEA’s youth entrepreneurs to these capital access tools
Used diaspora engagement budgets to promote investment platforms
What Holds Them Back:
Accessing capital takes 6-12 months (if approved at all)
Business registration still involves multiple agencies and delays
Regulatory uncertainty slows fintech innovation
Export procedures remain complex and expensive
Electricity unreliability kills production schedules
Skills training disconnected from market needs
Limited government support for connecting innovations to users
The Budget’s Entrepreneurship Opportunity:
If Ghana genuinely wants entrepreneurship to drive job creation, the 2026 Budget must deliver on three commitments:
Make It Easy – One platform for registration, licensing, financing, and support
Make It Fast – 72-hour business registration, 30-day loan approvals
Make It Real – Track how many youth businesses actually start, survive, and scale
Global Entrepreneurship Week isn’t just about celebration—it’s about learning from global examples and committing to do better.
THE BOTTOM LINE: This Budget Is a Test—And Global Entrepreneurship Week Is Our Mirror
Ghana’s 2026 Budget contains real possibilities. The 24-Hour Economy could be transformative. The skills programmes could future-proof our youth. The financing mechanisms could unleash entrepreneurship.
But possibilities aren’t guarantees.
As we join the world this week in celebrating entrepreneurship, let’s not just celebrate what could be—let’s commit to what must be. We’ve seen bold budgets before. We’ve heard stirring speeches before. We’ve watched programmes launch with fanfare and fade into bureaucracy before.
The difference this time must be implementation—relentless, measured, transparent, and accountable.
While other countries turn entrepreneurship celebrations into concrete policies and measurable results, Ghana cannot afford another year of good intentions without delivery.
Because somewhere right now, a young Ghanaian is making a painful decision: Keep hoping their country will create space for them, or leave for somewhere that will.
How many more Abenas, Kwames, and Fatimas can Ghana afford to lose?
This Global Entrepreneurship Week, let’s make a national commitment: This budget will be judged not by its promises, but by whether a young person in Wa, Hohoe, or Winneba can point to it in three years and say: “That budget changed my life.”
Everything else is just paper.
And the world is watching.
Source: Stephen Gyasi-Kwaw
Stephen Gyasi-Kwaw is Country Founder and Managing Director of Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) Ghana, an impact entrepreneur and ecosystem builder focused on youth employment and economic transformation. He welcomes feedback at skwaw@genglobal.org