Take Advantage Of Gov’t’s Entrepreneurial Support Policies – Dep. Finance Minister

The Deputy Finance Minister, John Ampontuah Kumah, has urged the youth and potential business owners to take advantage of government’s support policies to enable them build their careers, especially in terms of entrepreneurship, in efforts to make Ghana and Africa become what they want to see.The Deputy Finance Minister is of a strong belief that, “when we position ourselves, and take advantage of the YouStart programme and the opportunities that the government is creating, we are going to take charge of our own future and destiny”. This he stressed would help build a prosperous nation that as citizens we will all be proud to see where this country gets to.

He emphasised that as citizens there is the need to believe that “we have a responsibility to change the narrative of Ghana by starting to believe in ourselves, by starting to build the ideas that we have, by believing that through our own initiatives and entrepreneurship ideas, we can change the story of Africa and Ghana”, he maintained.

The Deputy Finance Minister, Mr. John Kumah, made these assertions in a recorded interview, as a guest speaker during a wealth concourse and mentoring summit held in Accra recently.

The summit, which was held as part of activities to graduate the first cohorts of ‘The Duah Mentoring Club 100’, is to empower the youth to intentionally take steps to create wealth.

The summit was held under the auspices of Financial Economist, Lecturer and Author, Dr. Evans Duah, who is also the Convener for The Duah Mentoring (TDM) Club 100 – a six month mentoring session club for young people not more than 40 years of age.

On her part, the Guest of Honour, Morocco’s Ambassador to Ghana, Imane Quaadil, noted that unemployment has been a major issue in the African continent as a whole; however, there are several opportunities which are up for grabs.

She therefore advised the youth to take advantage of programmes such as ‘The Intentional Wealth Concourse Summit’ which was under the theme: ‘Shaping the Next Generation of Thinkers and Leaders’, to be enlightened, and also create good networking opportunities for themselves.

Dr. Duah, on his part urged the graduating cohorts and the youth to find avenues to invest in capital appreciating assets in their quest to build wealth.

“When you are trying to build wealth, you need to focus on money itself and not currency. The main difference is that, of all the economic terms we talk about money, one key thing is that, money is a store of value but currency is not a store of value. The demand and supply that we have is what determines the currency’s usefulness.

You may have about GH₵10,000 in a bank, and another buys a land worth the same amount, in 10 years’ time the two will not be of the same value. The value of the money will depreciate while the value of the land (capital appreciating asset) increases,” he noted.

Other speakers also spoke on a myriad of topics such as: Maximising Available Opportunities, Building a Purposeful Career, Tools and Tips to Help Increase a Person’s Value, Social and Political Leadership, and Networking and Marketing in Business.