Graduates Charged To Create Innovative Ideas

The Ashanti regional head of Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF), Northern Zone Office, Mr. Emmanuel Osei Akuamoah, has challenged the youth especially graduates to cultivate the spirit of developing unique innovative ideas to apply in structuring businesses in the country to boost the country's economy.

He said it is high time the youth from various universities and tertiary institutions, applied what they had acquired into manufacturing industries. According to him, this will help strengthen the nation's capital base as well as reducing the unemployment rate.

"There are lot of technical and scientific knowledge, acquired through systematic education from the various institutions, that can be applied to help out with this current economic crises. The country is still suffering economic mess because we are not effectively implementing what we have acquired in schools to enhance our employment business base," he emphasized.

He was speaking in an exclusive interview with ModernGhana.

"There are a lot of resources that can be tapped and processed through innovative thinking into finished goods; our graduates from the universities should be creative enough to develop unique ideas to process these resources," he stated.

The venture capital trust fund was established by the government of Ghana through an act of Parliament act 680, to provide low cost financing small and medium enterprises and to promote the venture capital industry in Ghana.

According to him, the fund's vision is to provide low cost financial loans and services to small scale businesses which would stimulate their growth, create jobs and improve wealth creation in the poverty alleviation process.

"The vision is to create a vibrant and well structured capital industry with investments in various sectors, leading to job and wealth Creation. Also, the fund is mandated to provide credit and equity to eligible venture capital finance companies."

Mr. Osei Akuamoah charged the youth to be more creative in thinking, and also innovative to implement their ideas into effective realization.

He stressed that "we should not only be focusing on the already existing jobs, but rather be creative enough to venture into businesses that will compete with foreign goods".

Funding is a major hindrance to every start up enterprise, but according to him, venture capital has come to redeem people from capital embarrassment to secure and provide better business successes.

"Venture capital has come to stay and we are ready to finance individuals with unique business excelling plan to achieve their aims and goals"

He further revealed that VCTF can boast of 50-plus branches and had invested a lot in different companies in the hospitality industry, real estate, education, agriculture among others".

Mr. Osei Akuamoah advised the government to extend focus on the manufacturing sector, to enable the ability to process most of our raw Agric products into finished goods.

"I think that government should inject funds into projects like the energy sector, road construction among others to help make substantive economic gains and to boost entrepreneurship."