Empower passionate young entrepreneurs to create jobs in Ghana by offering hands-on entrepreneurship skills development and capacity building training. The year-long Graduate Entrepreneurs Program (GEP) offers an enabling environment for innovative graduates in agriculture to test and validate their business ideas. Selected graduates will become growth poles in rural villages to create jobs through sustainable practices that will improve the lives of other young people in their communities.
Youth unemployment is currently the major developmental issue in Ghana. Every year, more than 60,000 students graduate from tertiary institutions, but it may take up to 10 years for them to secure jobs. It is estimated that the youth unemployment rate is highest among university graduates due to lack of experience and hands-on skills training. Despite the exceptional potential of agribusiness in Ghana, little has been done to build capacities and inspire creativity in the sector.
The GEP offers training to college graduates to ensure a strong foundation in their future agribusiness. Young 'agripreneurs' spend a year at Self-Help's agriculture training center cultivating crops and rearing livestock to receive hands-on technical training. Alongside, they take courses and engage in conversations around practical business skills to ensure success in their agribusiness ventures. After their year is complete, participants are prepared to launch a successful business.
The Graduate Entrepreneurs Program will transform 40 young entrepreneurs into growth poles and entrepreneurial teams capable of leading the creation of 200+ rural jobs through improved and sustainable agricultural practices by 2024. Graduates will acquire the skills, inspiration and empowerment needed to develop and implement indigenous agribusiness models that could create and support more job opportunities as well as inspire creativity and innovation among other youth in their communities.
