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Sinapi Aba empowers youth in Wa

By Rafiq Nungor Adam || Contributor
Regional News Sinapi Aba empowers youth in Wa
MAY 28, 2023 LISTEN

Sinapi Aba Savings and Loan has empowered some youths within the Wa Municipality with entrepreneurship skills to curb the youth unemployment in deprived areas.

The youth, through the “Youth Apprenticeship Programme” (YAP) received start-up equipment to commence business after going through three year apprenticeship programme in their respective trades aimed at developing the entrepreneurial skills to better their lives and contribute to the development of the region.

The organisation launched the “Youth Apprenticeship Program (YAP”) in Wa Municipal of the Upper West Region as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility to support over four Thousand vulnerable and disadvantage persons in three trade sector namely, dressing making, weaving, and hair dressing to be self-employed in all the 16 regions of Ghana. About 150 apprentices were selected from Wa, Nadowli, and Jirapa to undergo three (3) years training in hairdressing, sewing and weaving.

Beneficiaries in hair dressing received plastic chairs, pack of rollers and pins, pack of styling combs, pack of towels and pack of hand gloves while those in sewing received hand machine, machine oil, packs of thread, two pairs of scissors, picking shears, 4yds of cotton fabric, stool, tape measure and tracing wheel and those who partake in the weaving received loom, reed, shuttle, bobbing, harnesses, beaming sticks scissors, hooks, brush and thread to start their businesses.

Speaking at the closing ceremony in Wa, the Branch Manager of the firm, Zaato Borsutie Bob said, youth unemployment has been a security threat to the country’s development in spite of several policies and programmes implemented by government over the years to reduce it but not yielding the desired results.

He said the programme was to compliment government agenda in empowering the less privilege ones and the informal sector to enable them become productive to earn a livelihood.

“We have offered and continue to offer financial support to thousands of individuals and businesses in the upper west region. We have also implemented various projects and programmes like wild heart, a programme aimed at supporting women in business, UKAM also to support women in agriculture, Mentorship programme that offers mentees the opportunity to learn under a selected mentor and now the YAP," he stated.

Alhassan Asia, a beneficiary expressed gratitude to the financial institution for supporting the youth in the area to acquire skills.

According to her, she has been travelling to Wa everyday to work with rice seller in order to mobilize some funds to purchase the machine to learn the trade but funds generated was not enough. He addrd that the intervention of the organisation has helped to achieve the dream.

Another beneficiary Seidu Mubarak, a senior high school graduate noted that, he has completed school and had the desire to learn trade but funds was a problem.

"I am very happy for Sinapi Aba in supporting the cost of whatever I will need to learn the trade he expressed the gratitude."

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