The total amount of GH¢482,820 went to 26 tailors and dressmakers.

The beneficiaries, who formed the first group to be given such assistance, all come from the Eastern Region.

They are expected to use the money to expand their businesses and also train others, especially the unemployed youth.

The beneficiaries are partnering the YEA to undertake the venture.

At a short ceremony to present the cheques to the beneficiaries in Koforidua last Thursday, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the YEA, Alhaji Ibrahim Bashiru, said the main purpose for giving out such financial assistance to the beneficiaries was to enable them to purchase the necessary materials and equipment to train others.

The trainees will be recruited by the YEA for their respective training programmes.

Alhaji Bashiru indicated the effort was to create the necessary space in the businesses of the beneficiaries to make them to grow.

"We are giving you the money to create some space as well as an enabling environment for the beneficiaries who will be given to you to train for the next 24 months.

"If we recruit these young people and hand them over to you, there will be vigorous monitoring weekly and monthly and, if it comes to our attention that you are not training our beneficiaries, you will be made to refund the money", Alhaji Bashiru stated.

Tax payers

According to the deputy YEA CEO, the money given to the beneficiaries were from the tax payers and must be used judiciously to also benefit their future apprentices.

Alhaji Bashiru told the beneficiaries that if they used the money judiciously by committing themselves to the work, they would be given another GH¢20,000 for the same purpose.

He, therefore, urged them to live up to expectation.

"Apart from using the money to train others, you will also benefit, so you must not disappoint the government which has given you the money", he said.

He told the gathering that the initiative was to be carried out in phases across the country to ensure that the unemployed youth, who were interested in tailoring and dressmaking, would be able to fulfil their dreams to earn a living.

Alhaji Bashiru said supporting small-holder businesses to stand on their feet was the best to make the country's economy more efficient and better.

The Eastern Regional Director of the YEA, Jerry Osei Poku, for his part, said those selected to benefit from the programme were those who applied and were shortlisted based on their various capacities and capabilities.

He explained that those given the money were tailors and seamstresses who registered their businesses with the Registrar General's Department.

Mr Poku said the YEA would be assisting those who had not yet registered their businesses to do so in order to be given similar financial assistance.

Income generation

According to him, if those trained by the beneficiaries came out successfully, they would then be able to live on their own to generate income for themselves and their dependants.

The regional YEA director said in all, 71 beneficiaries had been earmarked in the Eastern Region for the programme at a cost of GH¢1,260,000 and added that others would follow soon.

The Eastern Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Jeff Konadu Addo, advised the beneficiaries against using the money  on unnecessary undertakings such as funerals, weddings, naming ceremonies and make-ups.

He said such money must be solely used to expand their businesses to enable them to train others.

Assurance

An elated beneficiary from Akosombo, Daniel Darko, gave an assurance that he would use the money to purchase two additional industrial sewing machines to complement the already existing two.

That, he also noted, would help him to expand his business as well as position him strategically to also train others.

Writer's email 
haruna.wunpini
@graphic.com.gh