Author Archives: Maameyha

Chamber of Agribusiness Ghana (CAG) has cautioned the government on the expected rise in food prices from the first quarter of 2022 out of global fertilizer increment.

This was found in a statement signed by the CEO of the Chamber of Agribusiness Ghana (CAG) Mr. Anthony Selorm K. Morrison on Monday, November 22, 2021.

The statement said, “Fertilizer is currently in short supply, especially fertilizers of the synthetic variety, primarily due to the soaring gas prices. Soaring natural gas prices have forced the closure of two large UK fertilizer plants, sparking warnings of a looming shortage of ammonium nitrate that could hit food supplies as record energy prices start to reverberate through the global economy. At those rates, it is costing fertilizer manufacturers a lot more to produce, and they cannot purchase natural gas at the current price to produce and make a profit”.

It added that the leading producer of fertilizer Yara has said that, prices of fertilizer have increased everywhere even Nitrogen fertilizer, phosphate fertilizer, and potassium fertilizer have increased which is going to influence the rise in food production in the country as Ghana is the net importer of fertilizer.

According to the producer of Yara, “It has to do with increases in raw materials, particularly, natural gas. In the US, cold weather across the south put a massive strain on the available supply of natural gas, a critical component involved in the creation of two widely used synthetic fertilizers-ammonia and urea.”

The chamber added that countries like China and Russia have lowered their export especially China has restricted the export of phosphate which is the main ingredient of commercial fertilizer in 2022. For Russia, they will allow 5.9 million tons (Mt) of nitrogen fertilizer and 5.35 Mt of fertilizers to be exported in the next 6 months.

It also said that food prices particularly grains and cereals will be going up from the first quarter of 2022 up to the second quarter of 2023. This product will rise to 30 and 45 percent which will highly increase in the urban areas in the same period.

“Crops yields for 2022 season are expected to remain stable or decline relative to 2021. The high cost of fertilizer will likely ration fertilizer use or reduce the area cultivated by commercial and smallholder farmers. Total production, especially grains and cereals are likely to miss projected growth in the 2022 season,” The statement added.

The chamber is urging the government especially the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) to help promote the procurement of fertilizer and agrochemicals for 2022 and 2023.

It is also asking the government to assist and encourage the use of organic fertilizer in the country and also to take the necessary steps to begin synthetic fertilizer production in Ghana.

The Government of the Republic of Ghana will on Sunday, November 28, 2021 update the people of Ghana on the need to adhere to Covid-19 measures during this Christmas.

This was found in a statement published by the ministry of information on Friday, November 26, 2021 under the Deputy Minister for Information, Fatimatu Abubakar.

According to her, the update is going to tackle on how Ghana’s port can be protected especially the airport from the fourth likely wave happening at Europe and South Africa.

The Deputy Minister added that, the government will again use this opportunity to update the public on the advancement of the Covid-19 vaccination program.

This is will be broadcast live on Ghana Television and on the facebook page of the ministry.

Writers E-mail: maameyha143@gmail. Com.

Ghana Health Service (GHS) will soon start the vaccination of children under 15 and above with Pfizer- BioNTech covid-19 vaccine to increase protection from Covid-19.

This was in a statement signed by the Director-General of Ghana Education Service (GES), ROF. Kwasi Opoku Amankwah on Thursday, November 18, 2021.

This succeeds during the approval from the Food and Drug Authority (FDA) for the Pfizer- BioNTech to be used among children aged 15 years and above across the country.

Therefore, the Ghana Education Service (GES) is urging all Regional and District Directors of Education to work together with GHS officials to enable the vaccination of all children under the required age.

“As part of measures at halting the spread of COVID-19 in schools and among the general public, the Ghana Health Service has planned to vaccinate all children aged 15 years and above as soon as possible to increase their level of protection against COVID-19.

According to the Ghana Health Service, the Food and Drugs Authority has approved extending the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to cover children from 15 years and above,” the statement explained.

The Weija Divisional Police Command has arrested 4 robbery suspects who took away the belongings of the people of Kokrobite on Thursday, November 18, 2021.

The suspects who were arrested on Saturday, November 20, 2021, include Benjamin Otoo is also known as Dada Joe, Tony Mensah Yedu alias Big Joe, Bismark Asabree also called Dagbano, and Nana Yaw Arko

According to the Director-General of Public Affairs, ACP said the suspects broke into the homes of the victims and with force took away three laptops, an iPhone 8 plus, three Infinix Smartphones and Techno Camon 7, 1 blue tooth speaker, an extension board, 3 phone chargers, 2 laptop chargers and an unidentified amount of money.

ACP Kwesi Ofori revealed that “Upon receipt of the robbery report, the Weija Police Command embarked on a special 8 hours covert operation which led to the arrest of Benjamin Otoo, Tony Mensah Yedu, and Bismark Asabree at their hideout Ajasco Red Top and New Aplaku on Saturday, November 20, 2021.

The fourth suspect named Nana Yaw Arkoh was revealed by his colleague Bismark Asabree who led the police to know the hideout at Labadi.

” Upon looking for the hideout of the suspect was the retrieval of 20 assorted phones, a taxi cab, 3 laptops, 1 motorbike, 1 locally manufactured pistol, a police vest, 1 Gota, and 14 assorted wristwatches,” The statement added.

The four suspects were prosecuted in Court on Monday, November 22, 2021, and they are making efforts to arrest other associates to face criminal charges.

The police administration according to ACP Kwesi Ofori has applauded the Weija Divisional Police Command and the entire team who made a great effort to arrest the four suspects.

The police service has reassured the security of the people of Ghana by doing all they can.

The Finance Minister, Hon. Ken Ofori Atta on Wednesday, November 17, 2021, delivered the 2022 budget saying it will build a sustainable entrepreneurial nation.
He presented the 2022 budget dubbed the Agyenwa budget at the parliament on the theme “Building a Sustainable Entrepreneurial Nation: Fiscal Consolidation and Job Creation.”

The agyenkwa budget is going to focus on the private sector through entrepreneurship development. According to him, the government is going to prepare policies that will empower the existing private businesses to be active and dynamic for it to create jobs for the youth.

” We will build an entrepreneurial nation by aggressively implementing programs that empower the majority of our young people to exploit their God-given talents to take risks and become job creators instead of job seekers”.

Hon. Ken Ofori Attah says since there is the need to build an entrepreneurial nation, the budget will focus on the private sector through entrepreneurship development for the youth to be job creators but not job seekers.

He said the budget will again create a conducive environment for entrepreneurs to prosper and create more employment avenues to support existing programs.

He added that the Akuffo Addo government can boast of implementing several entrepreneurial schemes that have addressed youth unemployment and skills development from 2017 to 2021 yet still unemployment is a challenge.

According to his indication, Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) is a government initiative to address graduate unemployment and to solve social problems in health, education, agriculture, technology, etc has provided employment opportunities to 100,000 youth.

The Youth Employment Agency (YEA) also working under the Akuffo government was established under the Youth Employment Act 2015 (Acts 887) to empower young people between 15 to 35 years to contribute meaningfully to the socio-economic and sustainable development of the nation has as well as employ 80,538 young people.

The Youth Afforestation program is an initiative to help reduce the rate of youth unemployment by building more trees has engaged 44,682 youth whiles the National Alternative Employment and Livelihood Program (NAELP) is an initiative that has been designed to create thousands of jobs to alleviate the hardships of those affected by the government’s efforts to sanitize illegal mining known as galamsey has also being introduced.

The minister added that the budget will address challenges that entrepreneurs face such challenges are access to credit and finance regulatory and tax burden, lack of skills as well as mentorship. “We will do this while intensifying our efforts to support the private sector to expand and create jobs, He voiced.

THE YOUSTART INITIATIVE

Hon. Ken Ofori Attah said because of that government is going to introduce another initiative in 2022 called the ” You Start” initiative which will use GHC1 billion each year to be able to create 1 million jobs which will partner with the finance institutions and development Partners that will add up to 2 billion.

Talking about loans, he pronounced that the ‘Youstart’ will support the youth-led enterprises with loans. The loans will come in various forms. The district-level loans will be GHC10,000 after 2-3 months of training.

The soft loans of up to GHC50,000 will help start-ups particularly young graduates and school leavers. The small businesses and the starter packs of up to GHC50,000 for individuals and GHC10,000 for organizations. Of GHC100,000 to GHC400,000 at concessional rates for Small and Mid-Size Enterprises (SMEs) through financial institutions.

“In addition, our local banks have agreed to a package that will result in increasing their SME portfolio up to GHC5 billion over the next 3 years. This, Mr. Speaker, results in an inprecedented historic 10bn cedis commitment to the private sector and Youstart over the next 3 years.

” Youstart is a vehicle for supporting young entrepreneurs to gain access to capital, training, technical skills, and mentoring to enable them to launch and operate their own businesses,” he said.

The ‘YouStart’ will be operationalized by March 2022 and it’s going to work in partnership with the Ghana Entreprises Agency (GEA), the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program (NEIP), and the partner financial institutions will serve as a strong arm for ‘YouStart’.

“Entrepreneurs will be able to supply for support through a dedicated ‘YouStart’ online portal. NEIP will also engage our Faith-Based Organisations as partners for the delivery of essential artisanal skills, business competitions, and feasibility studies, and introduction to financing institutions with a commitment of up to10% of GOG contribution to the YouStart Program.

In addition, the banking industry has committed GHC75m, over the next three years to collectively engage in skills development programs for a minimum of 150,000 young graduates and youth entrepreneurs by engaging the activities. To achieve this, the banks have pledged to review their internal processes and procedures to facilitate easier access to credit by SME’s. My ministry is working with the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) to conclude the terms to ensure the facilitation of GH¢ 5bn over the next 3 years,” he concluded.

Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC) will organize the second edition of the taste of Ghana 2.0 on December 27, 2021, at the forecourt of the statehouse.

A taste of Ghana is a special occasion that is used to display and celebrate Ghana’s unique culture in a grand style.

This year’s taste of Ghana 2.0 is going to highlight the true traditional richness of made-in-Ghana products and display the country’s rich cultural heritage.

“It will also provide business and investment opportunities for Ghanaians, its diaspora, and people from all walks of life in an informal setting.” The statement added.

The taste of Ghana 2.0 which was launched on Wednesday, November 17, 2021, was in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism Authority, Ghana Export Promotion Authority, the beyond the return initiative, Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional integration, and Ministry of Trade and Industry comes with the theme “Our Language, Our Identity, Our Pride”

The 2021 taste of Ghana 2.0 festival is going to promote different indigenous cultural elements such as music, poetry, theatrical performance, food, clothing, and many others which is going to focus on the use of Ghanaian languages as the theme says to develop a room truly of Ghanaian event.

The statement said, “This year’s Taste of Ghana event will encompass inputs from all the 16 regions in Ghana, to ensure a fair representation of the unique and heterogeneous cultures across the country”.

Moreover, with the adherence to Covid-19 protocol, where the event will take place will be set up in streets with popular landmarks in selected regions including Osu Oxford Street, Bantama High Street where vendors will display products unique to those regions.

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) of GIPC Nana Dufie Addo present at the launch said “the Centre is determined to continue engaging the diaspora community, as vital contributors to the development of the nation”.

Again, “beyond the entertainment and rich cultural experience, we can take advantage of the Taste of Ghana to continuously promote tourism in
Ghana and provide business opportunities for locals and foreigners seeking to invest in the country”.

The Minister of Information, Honourable Kojo Oppong Nkrumah talking to the audience stated that the event will build avenues to “showcase at the same place, the opportunities across the 16 regions of Ghana. He opined that the platform will be leveraged to further advance the country’s trade and tourism”.

Also, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Hon. Mark Okraku Mantey added to the Minister of information’s idea that “the festival will be a tool to foster economic ties, to aid derive optimal benefit from the influx of global Diaspora in Ghana, during the festive season”.

Director of Project Development and Investment, at the
Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), Mr. Ben Nsiah, who supported the assertion said that “The festival is a laudable step, in using our culture to upscale tourism and investment”.

Taste of Ghana 2.0 was praised by the Deputy CEO of Ghana Export Promotion Authority, Albert Kassim Diwura said it will increase the purchase of cultural products which will benefit Ghana’s export movements.

The ending was the Director Diaspora Affairs at the office of the President Mr. Akwasi Ababio who is calling on all stakeholders to “Explore every available opportunity to engage the various Diaspora groups”.

The finance minister, honorable Ken Ofori Atta on Wednesday, November 17, 2021, delivered the 2022 budget to parliament saying it’s going to transform the country. He pointed out that these key factors when enforced are going to help solve the problems of Ghanaians.

NO MORE ROAD TOLLS

According to him, there will be no more roads tolls on all public roads and bridges by reassigning jobs to toll workers. To him, the tolling point has become a very unhealthy market place leading to heavy traffic on roads and even lengthen travel time as well as reducing productivity.

He said if tolls are removed from roads, It is going to help reduce the rate of road congestion, minimize travel time, will reduce environmental pollution as well.

” To address these challenges, the Government has abolished all tolls on public roads and bridges. This takes effect immediately after the budget is approved (after appropriation it now?). The toll collection personnel will be reassigned. The expected impact on productivity and reducing environmental pollution will more than offset the revenue forgone by removing tolls,” the finance minister declared.

BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE ENTREPRENEURIAL NATION

Finance minister ken ofori Atta says in Building a Sustainable Entrepreneurial Nation the 2022 budget will absorb challenges of Entrepreneurs in access to credit and finance to support the private sector and create jobs for more youth at the Parliament House on 17 November 2021.

According to him, “The Census results put Ghana’s population figure at 30.8 million and of this number, 42.8 percent constitute the adult population above 18 years while 58.2 percent constitute the population below 18 years.

Therefore with this youthful population, there is an urgent need to provide the necessary environment for the private sector. In this regard, Government will implement a major intervention to empower existing private sector businesses to be robust and dynamic to expand and create jobs. while giving a strong hand up to the youth”

Further explaining he said, the Budget will redefine the development paradigm and will concentrate on the private sector, particularly entrepreneurship development.

Again, he made it clear that the government will build an Entrepreneurial Nation by aggressively going to implement programs that will provide the majority of the young people to use their God-given talents to take risks and become job inventors instead of job seekers.

Speaking about the YouStart initiative, he said it’s going to benefit entrepreneurs because the initiative will be a vehicle to support young entrepreneurs to attain access to capital, training, technical skills, and mentoring to encourage them to launch and utilize their businesses.

Partners of the ‘YouStart’ will comprise the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP), and partner financial institutions which will serve as the implementing arms of ‘YouStart’.

“Entrepreneurs will be able to apply for support through a dedicated YouStart online portal. NEIP will also engage our Faith-Based Organisations as partners for the delivery of essential artisanal skills, business competitions, and feasibility studies and introduction to financing institutions with a commitment of up 10% of GOG contribution to the ‘You Start’ Program”

The Youstart will support the youth-led enterprises with loans. The loans will come in various forms. The district-level loans will be GHC10,000 after 2-3 months of training.

The soft loans of up to GHC50,000 will help start-ups particularly young graduates and school leavers. The small businesses and the starter packs of up to GHC50,000 for individuals and GHC10,000 for organizations. Of GHC100,000 to GHC400,000 at concessional rates for Small and Mid-Size Enterprises (SMEs) through financial institutions.

CHARGING LEVY ON ALL ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS

The 2022 budget according to Honorable Ken Ofori Atta is going to expand the tax net in the informal sector therefore the “Electronic Transaction Levy or E-levy”. Furthermore, the electronic transactions which will cover mobile money payments, bank transfers, merchant payments, and inward remittances will be charged at a rate of 1.75% which will be borne by the sender except for inward remittances which will be borne by the recipient.

“Mr. Speaker, to safeguard efforts being made to enhance financial inclusion and
protect the vulnerable, all transactions that add up to GH¢100 or less per day (which is approximately GH¢3000 per month) will be exempt from this levy,” he indicated.

While the policy will take effect from January 1, 2022, and the government is going to work with partners to make sure that their systems and payment platforms are organized to carry out the policy, “A portion of the proceeds from the E-Levy will be used to support entrepreneurship, youth employment, cyber security, digital and road infrastructure among others. 3y3 Baako, Ye nyinaa bey tua”, He added.

SOME AREAS TO GET DIGITAL CENTERS

The Agyenkwa budget has come to fast-track efforts to upgrade the Kumasi, Tamale, Sunyani, and Sekondi-Takoradi regional innovation centers to digital centers. The centers according to the honorable minister will facilitate the building of ICT facilities and that will support startups to expand job creation and improve the drive for knowledge-led socio-economic growth.

“Government is making significant progress towards our digitalization drive. We are happy to announce that, to date, we have issued unique identification cards to over 11.6
million Ghanaians. The second phase of the National Digital Property Addressing System as well as the establishment of a national digital property register is complete.

Our plan to establish a comprehensive government-wide database and register as a reference platform and Management System for all government digital assets was set in motion with stakeholder engagements. We are currently awaiting the outcome of the preliminary assessment to inform the next steps,” he stated.

Attempting a business does not only make you your own boss but rather creates an income for yourself.

Entrepreneurship according to Koontz and Fulmer means, “The ability of a person to see a business opportunity, to get together the capital needed to take advantage of the opportunity, and to start a business, taking the risk of failure in the hope of reaping the rewards of success.”

Entrepreneurs aim at overcoming circumstances and profit from what they intend to do. They impact the broader community and to the extent of impacting the world.

Before you can start a business, you need capital, and what most people who can employ themselves assume is that unless they get huge sums of money. But this is not the case, we start from somewhere before we can dream of enlarging our businesses with that huge sums of money.

There are a lot of business owners who started from scratch and now here they are. They followed the business principles that are seeing a business opportunity, looking for capital, and being ready to take risks to become a successful business owner.

Osei Kwame Despite, a founder and CEO of Despite Group of Companies, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, owner of Oman FM, Net two, etc. Kevin Okyere is the founder and CEO of Springfield Energy, Dr. Kwabena Darko, owner of Agro-industrial Concerns, Kwabena Kesse, Kessben Group of Companies, Daniel Mckorley is the founder of McDan Group of Companies, Bill Gate a co-founder of Microsoft, Mark Zuckerberg; owner of Facebook, Mary Spio also founder and CEO of CEEK VR (Virtual Reality), etc.

My point here is that, we should always look at these great people and how they have inspired others for us to do more. These entrepreneurs tend to be self-motivated, assertive, and innovative employees who create an entrepreneurial passion.

Some entrepreneurial opportunities you may find yourself might be beading making, shoemaking, dressmaking, hairdressing, detergent making, bag making, website creation, online marketing, basketweaving, graphic designing, architectural work, etc.

There are a lot of business opportunities out there but it’s up to you to discover them and work on them as it will help you someday. Let me give you a brief history of Daniel Mckorley, one great businessman in Ghana and even across the country.

Daniel McKorley is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the McDan Group of Companies. He revealed that he dropped out of the University because he was unable to pay his school fees. Arguably one of the most successful businessmen in Ghana, Daniel McKorley could only attain a degree 15 years, after dropping out of the University of Ghana. He started the McDan Shipping Company which was established in November 1999, with headquarters in Accra and Branches in Tema and Takoradi. The company has over 2000 major air and seaports worldwide due to a partnership with Universal Freight Organization, Cross Trades, and World Cargo Alliance(WCA).

Due to his hard work, he has attained a lot of awards. The achiever’s Award by West Africa Regional Magazine and The Entrepreneur of the year are some among other awards. Many are those we can’t mention but they never find it easy since success does not happen on a silver platter.

What I want us to know is that we are talented in one way or the other. Therefore let’s put what we can do into practice and we will appreciate it one day. We can be in school and still doing our petty businesses and trust me, society will benefit from it. It’s not only about how creative you are but how you can make that creativity useful.

As Bill Gates said, “Don’t compare yourself with anyone in this world … if you do so, you are insulting yourself.”
We all have different gifts and our own ways of contributing to the greater good in this world therefore let’s encourage ourselves and there is no need to compare ourselves to others.

To become a great entrepreneur you need to focus, do not think of turning back but rather concentrate on what you want to achieve and that will take you higher.
Whether talented or not, let’s try and get our own business aside your work being it a teacher, nurse, journalist, a lawyer, a doctor, any other professional job.

Entrepreneurship does not have anything with a degree, master’s, doctorate but is all about what you can do. When you venture into business, you are not going to benefit alone, your children, family members, and the society at large. The jobless will now get a job to do which will reduce the unemployment rate, the crime rate in the country.

Your one-month pay might not be enough for you. This is because you are to cater to your wife and children, your family members especially your parents and siblings, etc. Let’s consider this and put ourselves into business and we will never be disappointed.

I’m urging the youth especially the jobless not to just sit down thinking there is no job in the country. Let’s try other opportunities, work on our talent as well and we will one day become the most business tycoons as we have presently.

“Patience is a key element of success,” said by Bill Gate. For him, success usually comes after a lot of examination and mistakes, and a lot of downfalls. Success comes from those who have the patience to stick through all. Let’s endeavor to create our businesses and we will never regret it in the end.

Story By: Addo Oforiwaa Abigail and Demah Bertha

Yesterday, Monday, November 15, 2021, marks the outset of the 2021 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), and with 571,894 candidates at 2,518 centers across the country.

Ghana Education Service (GES) wishes to express its commendation to the 571, 894 candidates, teachers, parents for preparing the student to write this very exam.

“Management of GES wishes to congratulate all 571,894 candidates involved for their hard work and fortitude so far and to also express its profound gratitude to all Teachers, Heads of Basic Schools, Directors of Education, Parents/Guardians and all stakeholders for the crucial roles they have played so far in preparing the candidates for the examination”, She said.

The statement which was signed by the Head of Public Relations Unit of Ghana Education Service, Madam Cassandra Twum Ampofo is advising candidates, invigilators, supervisors, school authorities, teachers, and parents to desist from any form of examination malpractice.

“GES, WAEC, and the security services are working jointly to ensure the smooth conduct of the examinations at all the centers across the country,” she added.

According to the statement, all supervisors and invigilators at the various centers should ensure adherence to all the Covid-19 protocols.

The release again said: parents, candidates, and the general public are to note that the school selection placement system will begin after the examination, and any other information relating to it will be communicated as time goes on.
They also wish all candidates success and good luck in their examination.