The Coalition for Positive Impact (CPI), through its flagship annual entrepreneurship summit christened "Igniting Dreams", has empowered over 1,500 young people and 30 young entrepreneurs in Northern Ghana over the last five years.
This was made known by the Founder and President of CPI, Mr. Maazu Bayuoni during the opening ceremony of the sixth edition of the Igniting Dreams summit in Wa during the weekend.
"Since our establishment, we have been able to reach out to over 1,500 young people across Northern and supported 30 young entrepreneurs with seed funding and business development training," he said.
The results, which he described as inspiring and something to be proud of, are fundamentally championed by young people.
"And let me be quick to add that this initiative is fully championed by young people (...) and they have achieved significant results such as impacting over 1,500 young people across all the five regions in Northern Ghana and have also been able to mobilize resources exceeding GH¢100,000 to provide seed funding and capital for young entrepreneurs to build sustainable businesses," he added.
Mr Bayuoni added that the young entrepreneurs who received funding support through the Igniting Dreams program have been able to scale up their businesses and create over 300 job opportunities for other young people and the larger society.
He said the program was aimed at providing business development training and seed funding as well as mentorship for young people to learn from seasoned entrepreneurs and leaders and be inspired to harness their potential for personal and business growth.
Dr George Dery, a lecturer at the Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS), who was the keynote speaker at the summit, said youth skills development was crucial in many facets of national development and, therefore, should be consciously championed.
He, however, observed that despite the youth being referred to as future leaders, they were conspicuously underrepresented in the governance architecture of the country.
"The youth will complete school, they are not getting the opportunity to get jobs, yet the old people are hanging on and saying that the youth are the future leaders; when will they get the opportunity to demonstrate that?" he quizzed.
He quoted statistics that youth unemployment rates were increasingly alarming and called for a concerted approach such as entrepreneurship training to address the menace.
Dr. Dery also observed that the youth were lacking innovation and creativity which he blamed on the kind of education bequeathed to them.
He advocated for a change of mindset of Ghanaians and a paradigm shift towards patronizing technical and vocational education as opposed to the current Western-style, book-long education.
The summit saw in attendance seasoned entrepreneurs, academics and leaders together with hundreds of young people from across Northern Ghana.
It was supported by the Sangu Delle Foundation, Rabito Clinic, Noni Hub, DLight Space, Girls Education Initiative Ghana, Express Pay, mNotify, and Steward Reigns Photography.