Young entrepreneurs to be engaged on the Ghana Startup Bill

The technical working committee of the Ghana Startup Bill is set to hold a one-day consultative workshop for startups and young entrepreneurs to solicit their views and inputs into the bill which seeks to deliver an incentive framework for the creation and development of startups in Ghana to promote creativity, innovation and the use of new technologies in achieving a strong added value and competitiveness at the national, regional and district levels.

Scheduled to happen this Friday, 4th of December, at the Accra Digital Centre, from 9 am – 2 pm, the event hopes to engage 100 startups and young entrepreneurs, selected from across the country to deliberate on the drafted bill.

The Technical Working Committee which was set up in October this year by the Ministry of Business Development, through its agency, National Entrepreneurship and Innovations Program (NEIP), has held series of stakeholder consultations leading to the drafting of the bill.

The Committee recently held a 3-day retreat with key stakeholders at Dodowa where experts reviewed the draft and made some inputs.

Speaking ahead of this Friday’s event, the Communication Director for the committee, Solomon Adjei indicated that this is the time to present the drafted bill to the end-user beneficiaries, which are the startups and young entrepreneurs, for them to scrutinize it, and ensure that all they need for their businesses to grow has been captured.

The process is being championed by the Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs, Ghana Startup Networks Ghana Hubs Network, Private Enterprise Federation, Innovation for Policy (i4Policy), and National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program with support from GIZ.

He disclosed that the following focal points will be up for discussions;

• The definition of a “Startup”

• Startup certification and Label selection processes

• Startup benefits and incentives, including Tax wavers and holidays, Startup Financing, Business support and capacity building programs, Access to markets, Intellectual Property Rights, Research and Development support, Investor and Mentor support, among others.

• Benefits of the startups to the state, etc.

Ahead of the young entrepreneurs and startups engagement on Friday, he hinted at a special session with some selected stakeholders, on Thursday. Representatives from Association of Ghana Industries, Ghana Chamber of Mine, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ghana Employers Association, Public Procurement Authority, Attorney-General's Department, among others, including Ghana’s political big wigs – NDC and NPP, are expected to attend this session and make their inputs into the bill.

The Technical Working Committee is working up to speed to ensure a final draft bill is ready to be presented to the Ministry of Business Development at the end of this year 2020.