The Government has earmarked GH¢10 million to support businessmen and women in the Zongo communities in the country.
Dr Mohammed Ibrahim Awal, Minister for Business Development yesterday announced this in Tamale.
According to him, the money was to help alleviate poverty in the Zongo communities.
Dr Awal explained that the ministry developed an initiative dubbed, ‘Zongo Business Initiative’ whose main aim was to build entrepreneurial skills of Zongo youth in the country.
He challenged the youth and elders of the Zongo communities to embrace the initiative and urged them to take the training programme seriously.
“Take business very seriously. Go through the training that NEIP will give you, submit your business plans by October/November, we will select the very good ones, [and] support those businesses with GH¢10m. This is what the president is doing to build zongo businesses,” he urged.
He said Zongo communities continue to play a crucial role in the development of the country.
Dr Awal charged the people to vote for the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo in the upcoming elections to sustain the initiative.
The Minister for Inner-City and Zongo Development, Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had always taken the lead in initiating development interventions in the Zongo communities in Ghana.
“No matter much differences of opinion we have, when we all sit down and we reflect on the development of our country, we will all come to the conclusion that there is one political party that, any time it comes to power, puts in place programmes like this that allows every citizen, no matter where you live, no matter where you were born, no matter your religion, no matter your ethnicity to benefit from the resources of the country,” he touted.
A representative from the KAS Foundation, Isaac Poku entreated the beneficiaries to make the most out of the initiative.
FROM YAKUBU ABDUL-MAJEED, TAMALE
