Yison Tech Hub in partnership with Ghana Tech Lab has held its second Local Start-up Summit in Wa to enhance youth in technology in the local digital economy as well as to provide employment opportunities.

The second Local Start-up Summit was on the theme: "Digital media for business and job creation in this era".

Mr Issahaku Serikpera Naa, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Yison Tech Hub said the summit presented an excellent opportunity for start-ups from the digital media training to be propelled to the next level.

This will be done through constructive business development and investor-readiness feedback to engender possible funding from the community of local investors.

He said this was essential because digital media had revolutionized and reshaped traditional media in terms of how brands were communicating value to their customers and stakeholders.

Digital media as a key digital skill has expanded revenue and enabled organisations reach out to more catchment areas, start-ups, and companies in the last two decades, by leveraging the internet as its main vehicle for the expansion.

Mr Serokpera Naa said the summit was therefore aimed at promoting and celebrating the start-up culture within the local ecosystem and to encourage entrepreneurship among the youth.

He said it also provided a platform for start-up founders to pitch their innovative ideas to local investors, business leaders and the local community as well as create easy access to funding and business support for early stage startups.

The CEO of YIson Tech Hub noted that so far they had trained about 4,000 youth across the five Regions of the North and expressed appreciation to all partners including the Ministry of Communication.

Dr Hafiz Bin Salih, the Upper West Regional Minister, in a speech read on his behalf by Mr Dennis Beyuo, a Deputy Director at the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), said he was overwhelmed by the efforts of Yison Tech Hub in rolling out programmes aimed at providing economic skills and jobs for the teeming youth in Northern Ghana.

"We need to encourage more people with such ideas to come forward and lay bare their ideas so that the youth can tap to develop themselves", he said, adding that technology was now driving the world and the youth must embrace it with all seriousness.

The Regional Minister noted that employment generation was an issue all over the world, hence, any organization or individual whose activities were geared towards creating employment opportunities to complement government's efforts was a welcome development.

Mr Mohammed Yussif, Regional Accountant, Microfinance and Small Loans Centre, noted that in Ghana, there had been increasing growth in the number of businesses that required online visibility to propel customer acquisition and reach.

According to him, the COVID-19 pandemic had limited businesses from conducting business physically to virtual means of doing business and engaging customers, thereby increasing demand for digital media skills.

"Therefore, it is imperative that philanthropic organisations, government and civic bodies include; digital media skills as a crucial intervention into their developmental programmes", Mr Yussif said.