Set up Government-owned business incubators to groom entrepreneurs – Caveman Watches CEO

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ghanaian made globally accepted watch brand, Caveman watches, Anthony Dzamefe has urged the government to support entrepreneurship with a business incubator.

 According to him, setting up government-owned business incubators provides start-ups and early-stage businesses with the support and resources that young companies find difficult to access.

Speaking at the Communication Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah’s ‘Listen Up’ Twitter Space event on the theme “Recommendations on Youth Entrepreneurship in Ghana’, Mr Dzamefe suggested that, to promote entrepreneurship in Ghana, “Government should construct a bank specifically to cater funding for entrepreneurs just like the China Construction Bank, which is set up to fund construction”

 He recommended that there should be easy access to loans and capital for start-ups, “Government should put down structures so that our SSNIT contributions, Tier 2 and Tier3 should serve as collateral to access loans”

Mr Dzamefe, who was a guest speaker of the session added that to get more people to patronize entrepreneurship in Ghana, “there should be a government-owned business incubators, that will hatch ideas, groom entrepreneurs and give them access to access to networks, investors and mentors, or co-working space alongside other businesses and experienced professionals.”

Meanwhile, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has advised the youth to venture into entrepreneurship as the government cannot absorb them into the public sector.

Ken Ofori-Atta says that the government’s payroll is full.

He says that about 60% of the government’s revenue is already being paid as salaries to some 650,000 public sector workers.

“We have gone through a period where most people look for jobs with the government. That payroll is full because we are spending some 60% of revenue on the remuneration of some 650,000 people, and that is not sustainable,” he disclosed at last Friday’s Springboard-Ghana Cares Youth Dialogue in Accra.

Mr Ofori-Atta mentioned that the government was focused on transforming the country into an entrepreneurial state.

The government, the Minister said, is taking steps to create an enabling environment for entrepreneurs.

Ken Ofori-Atta expressed confidence in the youth, telling them that they had the relevant skills to start their own business.

“You do in you have the skill set to be able to do what you have to do. And our responsibility as a government is to create the environment of macro stability, currency stability and ensuring that you have access to the relevant skills and financing,” he added.

He insists that the government’s agenda to become a hub of entrepreneurs must be pursued without fail.

(Source: Erica Arthur)