Deputy Finance Minister, Dr John Kumah has emphasised that government is willing to assist persons who are desirous of venturing into entrepreneurship.
He said, this notwithstanding, there is a limit to the level of support that government can offer to prospective entrepreneurs as well as owners of thriving businesses.
"There is an extent to which government support can help anybody. If you don’t have the self-drive, and also the private sector doesn’t come on board in terms of loan structuring and the banking arrangement. As for the laws and policy, I can tell you that we are continuously reviewing them," he said on Joy FM's Super Morning Show on Thursday.
He welcomed the opportunity to discuss issues affecting entrepreneurs, saying feedback from such discourses would influence government's decisions in terms of enhancing the enabling environment to keep entrepreneurs in business.
"Some of these engagements, we would pick the feedback. We will share ideas. Even if it means making laws in parliament or advising parliament, we will do," the Deputy Minister assured.
The discussion on the Super Morning Show were necessitated by Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta’s statement to the effect that there are no more vacancies in the public sector. Mr Ofori-Atta made the statement against the background of a huge unemployment rate among the Ghanaian youth.
The Finance Minister, speaking at last Friday’s Springboard-Ghana Cares Youth Dialogue in Accra, urged the youth to venture into entrepreneurship because government is already spending 60% of total revenue on salaries and emoluments of public sector workers.
Subsequent to the Finance Minister's comments, some entrepreneurs accused government of not creating a conducive environment for them to operate, thus discouraging young people from venturing into entrepreneurship.
Responding to these concerns, Dr John Kumah said if individuals such as; Kwasi Twum of Multimedia Group Limited and Osei Kwame Despite of Despite Company Limited have been able to succeed as entrepreneurs in the country, it can only be through the support offered by the system.
"If you check their educational background, in most cases, they didn’t even have first degrees when they were pursuing their businesses. It is recently that most of them have gone for degrees. Yet the kind of businesses they have managed to setup in this country just by pursuing business, they’re now recruiting top-class graduates and double degree holders to work for them."
He advised the youth to be patient and passion-driven if they want to succeed as entrepreneurs.
"Because if your passion is to look for money, then at a point, you would give up. But if your passion is to make sure that a certain dream is fulfilled, and a certain vision is pursued. No matter the difficulties, you would still strive until there’s a way," he stressed.
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