Enablis Tackles Graduate Unemployment Through Capacity Building

Ms Cynthia Lumor, MTN

Youth unemployment in Ghana is increasingly becoming a major headache to successive governments in recent years, as the number of out of work graduates keeps on increasing without any sign of ever dropping.

An estimated 70,000 graduates leave the country’s universities each year but most of them do not possess the requisite skills to enable them get employed by industry. Only about 5,000 find jobs elsewhere, while the rest survive in the informal sector or remain unemployed. 

The growing situation has therefore led to increasing social vices involving mostly, the youth, as on daily bases, one wake up to news reports of internet scam, car theft, drugs, armed robbery and human rituals among others.

Against this background, Enablis Entrepreneurial Network (Enablis) in partnership with MTN Ghana Foundation, held a business boot camp in Tamale recently to build the capacity of business students and others who had the desire to go into entrepreneurship.

The Corporate Services Executive of MTN-Ghana Mrs. Cynthia Lumor, who addressed hundreds of business students, observed that the world was currently in an era where jobs were no longer a guarantee for university graduates, stressing that, it was the responsibility of MTN as a society to provide the youth with the tools and guidance they needed to take charge of their own future and turn the current situation around positively.

As part of its contribution towards this, she said MTN Ghana Foundation was supporting the Enablis initiative with GH¢30, 000, 00, adding that, “In addition we will provide modems and routers for the first three winners of the croup conference.”

Mrs. Lumor also mentioned that, MTN Ghana Foundation had so far invested GH¢13million in development projects across the country in the areas of health, education and economic empowerment.

Mr. Daniel Gblin-Mensah

According to the Project Manager of Enablis Daniel Gblin-Mensah, the event aimed to promote enterprise development that sought to achieve economic independence among Ghanaian youths by enabling the youth at every level to create employment opportunities for themselves and others. 

The objectives of the boot camp among other things, he said, include; reorienting participants to challenge themselves to find innovative ways to create jobs and wealth for themselves and others; encouraging individuals with good business ideas to start and run their businesses; and encourage young budding entrepreneurs to sharpen their business acumen, improve their business plan thinking and to develop their writing skills.

Enablis is an Accra-based not-for-profit organization that supports entrepreneurship development in the developing world through its member-driven network. It is an organized and interactive network of entrepreneurs in developing countries who share similar values and believe in the importance of small-to-medium enterprises for sustainable development. The result is a group of individuals drawn together by their capacity for entrepreneurship; a powerful force for change in the developing world.

Enablis believes in the power of the entrepreneur to drive socio-economic development, stimulate innovation, create jobs and create wealth. The organisation facilitates entrepreneurial development, access to finance, professional networking and mentoring to ensure economic stimulation and entrepreneurial sustainability.