70 youth-led businesses benefit from YouStart initiative - Finance Minister

Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta has said that some 70-youth-led beneficiaries have been supported under the YouStart initiative.

According to him, governemnt has also disbursed GH¢1.98 million to support beneficiaries under the programme.

Presenting the 2023 budget statement before Parliament, Ken Ofori-Atta explained that the amount was disbursed to support youth-led (below the age of 40 years) SMEs in poultry, agro-processing, ICT, textiles, and food processing sectors.

“Mr Speaker, a launch for the District Entrepreneurship Programme (DEP) component of the programme 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 access support,” he stated.

One District One Factory (1D1F).

The Finance Minister also noted that the One-District-One-Factory (1D1F) Initiative continued to make remarkable progress in 2022.

To date, he said a total of 296 1D1F projects were at various stages of implementation, out of which 126 were currently operational, 143 were under construction, and 27 were pipeline projects.

He added that government would in 2023 intensify support to existing and new manufacturing enterprises with technical assistance, credit facilitation, and access to electricity and other infrastructure.