Ghanaian-German Centre Empowers Entrepreneurs

Some entrepreneurs at the training

THE GHANAIAN-German Centre (GGC) for Jobs, Migration and Reintegration, in partnership with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Ghana, organised  two-week training for budding entrepreneurs and individuals seeking to start their own businesses.

The training dubbed “Start and Improve Your Business” brought together 60 young entrepreneurs and individuals seeking to start their own businesses.

The business management training programme focuses on using business as a strategy to empower men and women entrepreneurs with the business skills they need to create more employment and achieve sustainable and inclusive growth. 

Participants were taken through intensive package which responds to several stages of business development.

These include enabling potential entrepreneurs to develop concrete business ideas, bankable business plans, improving plans in buying, stock control, record keeping, marketing, human resource management, business growth strategy, among others. 

A key part of the training is the business game which is a practical simulation exercise to enable participants to understand the realities of starting and operating a successful business.

It is played during training where participants are linked to the real life of an entrepreneur and are challenged to plan, organize, produce, compete, negotiate and cooperate to ensure good business results.

The Head of the Ghanaian-German Centre, Benjamin Woesten, stated, “We are happy to partner with the ILO in ensuring that the next generation of young business entrepreneurs gets it right.”

“We do this with the conviction that youth entrepreneurship is pivotal to its own economic independence and to an extent, dividends for Ghana’s economy. To get dividends, however, we must invest. This training is a testament of our commitment to employment promotion and job creation. One way to do this is to invest in the people who have and are demonstrating potential to employ others,” he added.

On her part, the National Project Coordinator for ILO Ghana, Akua Ofori Asumadu, encouraged the participants to put into practice what they had been taught.

She assured them that the ILO and GGC would be engaging them from time to time to monitor their progress in their respective businesses and advise where appropriate. She also encouraged them to put into practice the decent work principle.

The GGC for Jobs and Reintegration is part of the global project “Programme Migration for Development” (PMD), which is commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in Ghana in collaboration with the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations (MELR).

GGC’s objective is to support government’s effort at improving living conditions and providing opportunities to enhance job prospects now and in the future.

The support is aimed not only at the local population and internally displaced people, but also at those returning home from Germany.

BY Melvin Tarlue