The partnership aims to build the capacity of the young entrepreneurs in areas that contribute to fostering economic growth in the country.

As part of the programme, which forms part of the commitment of DBG to foster growth in youth-led businesses, aimed at training 1000 young entrepreneurs over the course of this partnership.

As a start, DBG and GCYE will hold two virtual capacity building workshops on October 20th and 21st, 2022 with participants drawn from all 16 regions with at least 40 percent of the participants being women.

The workshop would focus on introduction to websites and ecommerce, social media marketing, digital financial management and introduction to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG).

Speaking at the programme, the Deputy Managing Director for DBG, Michael Baah-Mensah said, “This partnership is also very relevant in the wake of government’s call for more entrepreneurship opportunities for the youth starting with the recently introduced YouStart Initiative. We therefore believe that our partnership with GCYE will inject additional momentum into the effort to grow Ghana’s new generation of private sector players.”

He said the collaboration presented a business skills development programme, where 1000 entrepreneurs would be trained to enable them to remain competitive to enhance their business operations.

 “The programme seeks to de-risk these businesses towards accessing long-term capital. Specifically targeting Entrepreneurs in the Agribusiness, Manufacturing and High-value services with consideration for women-led businesses, youth-led businesses and environmental and social management systems,” he said.

Mr Mensah-Baah, said DBG is a Development Finance Institution established in 2019 an in 2020, the bank received its license from the regulator, the Bank of Ghana.

He said the objective of DBG was to facilitate and strengthen long-term credit flow to Ghanaian businesses to drive long-term economic growth and transformation, empower banks and entrepreneurs through financial innovation and other advisory services to strengthen the ecosystem in which businesses operate and promote excellence within the businesses we support in terms of ESG.

The Chief Executive Officer of GCYE, Sheriff Ghali, said “Through this partnership, we shall train about one thousand young entrepreneurs across the country on financial literacy, digitisation, and business management skills.”

He said “This collaborative mandate would be achieved through digital workshops, seminars, and business clinics. Further, we shall collaborate with the relevant government and state institutions through advocacy to promote to policies, programmes, and reforms that promote youth entrepreneurship.”