Help government address commitments in SDGs - CAGL CEO urges social entrepreneurs

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of , Isaac Amoako Mensah has challenged Social entrepreneurship to find what is not working in the society and find solutions to the problems by changing the system, spreading the solution, and persuading entire societies to take new leaps, rather than allowing government alone to shoulder the responsibilities.

According to him, Social entrepreneurship is vital to improve domestic revenue mobilization in order to be able to finance the policies and programs needed to complete the unfinished agenda and address the new commitments embodied in the SDGs.

Isaac Amoako Mensah was speaking as a resource person for this year’s Entrepreneurial Seminar held under the topic: “The role of social entrepreneurship in reducing graduate unemployment and achieving the sustainable development goals.”

He mentioned that Social entrepreneurs’ roles matter in achieving the 2030 Agenda because there are pressing social problems and need for sustainable social impact.

“They play an important role in employment initiatives as their style of working with governments, businesses and non-governmental organizations to share and exchange experiences and expertise create new innovative solutions that are making a real difference. These reforms are work to create inclusive communities and shared responsibility to generate change,” he said.

Isaac Amoako Mensah who is an accomplished young Ghanaian entrepreneur said funding the SDGs will total US$5-7 trillion from 2015-2030, and “only a relatively small part of that money will come from public funds,” advising that as entrepreneurs and business networks increase they will be creating avenues for increased opportunities.

He stressed that unemployment is the most growing national problem which poses a major security threat to the country’s economy, hence the need for a shorter-term macroeconomic and fiscal policies to help drive job growth, embedding entrepreneurship at the heart of the educational system as a key initiative that will help provide an environment where the dreams of millions of young people to make an impact and start their own enterprises can be realized.

He averred that the reality of the job market has sent many graduates back to school and the rest has been left to wonder how to get a “foothold in the job market” whilst the number of job openings and vacancies are minimal.

“Simply put, there are no jobs to apply to; the labour market supply of graduates has outgrown the labour demand. Experts say the country needs to create 300,000 jobs every year deal with unemployment in the country.”

He believes that new graduates who are without jobs are not lazy but that they were simply given “one path, one option in life: go to school, get a degree, and then you can get a job. They spent all of this time, effort and money working towards this goal. The “promise” of succeeding in this path might have not been written out explicitly, but the educational systems and society gives you little choice.”

The economy, he said is largely controlled by companies which have the money and jobs and decide whether or not to hire these graduates hence if these companies don’t need your skills, “then you are out of luck.”

In view of this, he called for support for start-ups saying that that will help the sustainability of their businesses.

However, he explained that being an entrepreneur is tough and a risk, one that ends in failure for many young entrepreneurs.

“Yet, some of the biggest startup successes come from the young entrepreneurs. Owning a startup, in itself, is challenging, having the monetary capacity and knowledge to get a business off the ground is one thing; surviving the fierce competition, volatile economy, as well as the oftentimes changing and unpredictable marketplace is another but those who do succeed will tell you the rewards of entrepreneurship are well worth the obstacles they faced on the road to success.”

Notwithstanding this, Isaac Amoako Mensah said entrepreneurship is a discipline and, like any discipline, it can be learned as it is crucial to the progress and well-being of any society whether commercial or social entrepreneur.

Their efforts, he mentioned are connected to a notion of addressing unmet needs within communities that have been overlooked or not granted access to services, products, or base essentials available in more developed communities.