The political campaign season is here with us again. An apparent struggle to determine who controls the states resources and who determines who gets what, when and how for the next 4 years of Ghana’s life.
The ‘statist’ agenda still on course, with promises of “one this, one that” afloat. Yet the World Bank Report on Ghana (2016) has indicated that 48% of Ghanaian youth are unemployed; a very alarming statistics. The question begging for answers is, has there been any serious consideration of this statistics and the trade-offs it has for the peace and stability of our beloved country?
I believe such thoughts was what motivated the National Chairman of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Rev. Richard Kwesi Yeboah, to caution political parties to “stop campaign rhetoric; and fix (the) unemployment challenges” in the country.
Maybe, it be made known to political leaders that the responsibility to build roads, schools, hospitals, infrastructure and the likes is the core duty of every government and hence must not be the basis for electing and/or maintaining any political party to govern. What governments must be able to do, and for which reason, political parties should be courageous to seek election for, is the provision of policy frameworks and models that supports business start-ups, growth and sustainability, promotes peace and security, ensures equitability and fairness, and guarantees freedom and justice. Indeed, this must be the Holy Grail visible in all political party manifestoes and the basis of their promises.
While youth unemployment remains the most topical issue in Ghana, it is worrying to find out that most political promises do not present cogent proposals to address it. Many learned Ghanaians and social commentators have been advocating for entrepreneurship to be taught in our Universities and Polytechnics.
In fact, some tertiary institutions have commenced teaching students to be entrepreneurs. Discussions have advanced in strengthening vocational institutions to give skills to students so that they can be entrepreneurs when they graduate. Yet I ask if those interventions will or have actually made any impact in resolving youth unemployment in Ghana. Clearly, our approach is wrong.
Of course, there is no ruse that the current tertiary students being churned out year after year have limited or no skills that suits industry’s needs. Again it is true that entrepreneurship and skills training must be taught to students to enhance their chances of either being suitable for the job market or being able to start something. Yet the point must be made that graduates do not only need skills and entrepreneurship training to start-up businesses.
Skills and business ideas or entrepreneurial skills are worthless if there is incubation to support its translation into a real business, and link the idea to funding opportunities, and provide it with network and partnerships to sustain it– and this is what the Indians, Ugandans and many other like-minded countries are doing right through their Public-Private Partnership owned and run Incubators, like the ABI-ICRISAT of India and the Uganda Industrial Research Institute (UIRI), as well as the other private incubation centres spread across those country.
Incubators are competence and capacity building centres, focused on producing innovative start-ups, by championing technology commercialization and translating applied research results into practical applications all geared towards creation of jobs and boosting income within the economy.
These incubators are facilities that help those with business ideas to develop them into real businesses which are sustainable. Aside developing ideas into businesses, the incubators offer their incubatees entrepreneurial skills, technical, financial, networking, management and planning support so they become profitable, competitive and sustainable. Struggling SMEs/enterprises are not left out in the scheme of operation of incubators, since they also enjoy similar facilities so that they can survive and be profitable, sustainable and competitive.
What makes incubation the ideal solution to youth unemployment is its multiplying-snowball approach where incubatees after being mentored, handheld and coached to develop ideas into businesses (to run and become profitable and sustainable businesses), end up becoming mini-incubators themselves, also incubating other ideas and start-ups. As a matter of fact, studies have proven that 85% of businesses that run on incubation succeed their first 2 years of existence.
Incubation training is both conceptual and practical, affording the incubatees opportunity to engage in real entrepreneurship training, with training modules fashioned to comprise handholding, mentorship and coaching. At the end, the incubatee will have been linked to divers businesses along varied value chains and would have had a strong network of partners that will support and sustain it.
What government or political parties seeking power must promise are incubator facilities spread across Ghana. At least, a promise of “one region, one incubator” will not be far-fetched. Like the UIRI in Uganda or the ABI-ICRISAT of India, incubator facilities built by the state and run by private institutions capable of running it efficiently and effectively under a transparent and utilitarian agreement, will be fit for purpose. This model is the key to increasing job creation and sustainability of enterprises for the youth. Our leaders should start thinking of institutionalizing incubation in Ghana, as the panacea to youth unemployment. O what a spectacle it will be if Ghana had ten (10) incubators spread across the country!
The good news is that, in Ghana currently, there are some private incubators incubating start-ups and SMEs along certain value chains, notable among which are Entrepreneurship for Commercial Seed Incubation Business (ECoSIB), an incubator aimed at strengthening the seed value chain in Ghana, and CCLEAR Incubator, focused on developing the livestock value chain, among others. Together, these incubators have created numerous sustainable jobs in their short life-span and demonstrated the sustainability of the incubator model. These incubators are excellent start-off points for us as a country to start scaling-up and scaling-out the incubator concept for wealth and job creation.
I hear the voices of the Ghanaian youth screeching “we want to be incubated and not lied to, to start businesses we cannot access affordable funds to start and don’t know how to manage properly, within an economy that stifles enterprise development”. If there is any resolve to help youth development, alleviate poverty and annihilate youth unemployment, then Incubation is the way to go.
AGRIBUSINESS is the place to start!
Let us end here with this Swahili proverb: “Mkono Mtupu Haulambwi” to wit, you cannot lick your finger when there is nothing to lick. Give the Ghanaian Youth something to lick - we want Incubators! God bless our homeland Ghana!
