2023 Budget: The YouStart Initiative Benefited 70 Youth-Owned Enterprises

According to Ken Ofori Atta, the minister of finance, the YouStart initiative, which launched this year, has been trialed effectively with 70 beneficiaries and a total of GH1.98 million distributed thus far.

According to him, the money was given to promote youth-led (under 40-year-old) SMEs in the poultry, agro-processing, ICT, textiles, and food processing industries.

Mr. Ofori Atta, who delivered the 2023 budget statement, stated that the government has successfully signed an MoU for the implementation of the program’s commercial component with the Ghana Association of Banks (GAB) and 11 other commercial banks.

“Mr. Speaker, a launch for the District Entrepreneurship Programme (DEP) component of the program was held on 14th November 2022 and it is expected that the launch of the Commercial component of the Programme will occur by the end of 2022 to enable qualified beneficiaries to access support,” he highlighted.

In addition, the finance minister also stressed on the effectiveness of “the one district, one factory initiative(1D1F).”

One District One Factory (1D1F)

Meanwhile, according to the finance minister, the One-District-One-Factory (1D1F) Initiative continues to make exceptional progress in 2022.

There are currently 296 1D1F projects in various stages of development, of which 126 are currently operational, 143 are being built, and 27 are pipeline projects, according to him.

The government, according to him, would increase its technical assistance, financial facilitation, and infrastructure access for both new and existing manufacturing enterprises in 2023.

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