Migration to urban centres won't solve economic problems

Tamale, July 23, GNA - The youth have been advised to equip themselves with the requisite entrepreneurial and managerial skills to be either self-employed or be gainfully employed, instead of migrating to the urban centres for menial jobs.

Madam Shika Acolatse, Project Officer of TechnoServe, an NGO, who gave the advice, said acquiring entrepreneurial skills would enable the youth to take bold decisions on their lives, which could make them financially independent.

Madam Acolatse was addressing the closing session of a two-week entrepreneurial training workshop, organised for 20 young entrepreneurs from the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions in Tamale on Friday.

She urged the youth to take a second look at the problems associated with migration, saying: "The demand for entrepreneurship education is fast becoming a top priority area in the world".

The workshop was aimed at providing small entrepreneurs with the requisite skills to manage their businesses more efficiently, measure the progress towards their objectives, adjust to changes in the marketplace, as well as apply result-driven methods to their enterprise management initiatives.

Madam Acolatse said TechnoServe had over the years, supported efforts at reducing poverty levels of the people in deprived regions through a number of interventions.

She said one of these interventions was the need to develop entrepreneurs, who would be able to contribute positively to the economic growth of their communities in particular, and the country as a whole.

She said a major concern of Technoserve was the volume of unemployed youth and school leavers in the rural areas, who often thought that migrating to the cities, such as Accra and Kumasi would solve their economic problems.

The Project Officer noted that, assisting young entrepreneurs to build growth-oriented businesses and produce and market high valued products would create job opportunities and incomes for the rural poor. Mr Lambert Dandeebo, Business Adviser of TechnoServe, urged the participants to put into practice the skills they would acquire at the forum to benefit the people.

He urged them to network and share experiences to help build the capacities of young entrepreneurs in the communities to enable them to contribute their quota to the national economy.