Government asked to set up seed money for graduates

Kumasi, June 1, GNA- A business executive, has suggested the need for Government to set up a special fund to assist graduates from the technical schools to set up small-scale industries. Mr Opoku-Agyemang Prempeh, Managing Director of Lakayana Company, engineering and building construction consortium, who made the suggestion, said such an initiative would facilitate the establishment of more industries and lead to the activation of those at the verge of collapse.

He was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Kumasi on Wednesday on the mechanism that could be adopted to enhance industrial growth.

Mr Prempeh observed that Ghana had one of the greatest technology universities like the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, which turned out competent graduates with various technological skills, but are unable to apply such skills because of the lack of seed money.

He said even though such an approach may involve a lot of financial commitment, its long-term benefit should be considered. He explained that if graduates who have technological skills in various endeavours were assisted to practice their careers, the incidence of mass exodus of professionals would either reduce or be eliminated.

Mr Prempeh also expressed worry about the situation in which Ghana has to continue exporting its commodities like timber and cocoa in their raw forms instead of adding value to them.

He said time had come for the Government to take a second look at the cocoa and timber industries with a view to attract local and multi national companies to process the products in the country for export. In this manner, the country would not only generate more foreign exchange but also open up more job opportunities to the idling youth, he noted.