YEA CEO Rallies Media, Stakeholders support for Business and Employment Assistance Programme (BEAP)

By:Isaac Amoah/tntnewspapergh.com

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Youth Employment Agency (YEA),Mr.Kofi Baah Agyapong,has made a passionate appeal to Ghanaian media and other stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of the newly launched “Business and Employment Assistance Programme (BEAP).

 

 

Addressing a news conference on Wednesday,10th January,2024 at Beauty Queen hotel,Kumasi,the CEO, explained to Journalists that,the idea of BEAP was cultivated after a careful review of a survey conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service(GSS) in 2020.

The report of the survey, according to Mr.Kofi Agyepong showed that 46% of firms were forced by the treacherous hands of COVID-19 to reduce employee wages during the thick of the pandemic.

 

 

“The effect of this was a big blow to families when standards of living for over 770,000 workers in the country were drastically reduced. How much even were people’s salaries to talk of being reduced?

Kofi Baah Agyepong,YEA CEO
Sadly, ladies and gentlemen of the media, about 41,952 employees were sent home by their employers as various enterprises struggled to keep themselves in business. We are all living testimonies to the wrecking hardships many hard working Ghanaians and their families suffered.he case of small and medium scale businesses was even worse, as about 16% of these enterprises were permanently shut down with a few struggling to resurrect.

Today, lots of these start-ups need urgent and real help to employ more hands to support their work”,he added.

A section of the media

The YEA CEO,said there is enough evidence that cost of labour and its accompanying statutory requirements and compliance such as taxes and social security at the early stages of business are too much of a burden for micro and medium scale enterprises.

 

Mr.Kofi Agyapong, therefore, appeals for the support of the media Saying “we greatly need your assistance to make BEAP succeed.
He said the lingering question is what exactly is the Business and Employment Assistance Programme about?

What problem does it seek to resolve? How sustainable is it? And how can our unemployed youth benefit from it?

According to YEA CEO, BEAP is a programme designed to provide salary support of GHS 5OO per every employee recruited by a Micro and Small Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) whiles the employer tops up the salary for the employee.

This,he explained is solely targeted at the private sector.

” By MSMEs, we simply mean the chop bars, milling centres (Nika Nika), chemical shops or drug stores, food joints, schools, trading enterprises, mini supermarkets, baking shops, barbering shops, hairdressing & beauty salons, micro production companies, and any other shop or business set up that needs employee support or workers to assist their work”,he added.

Mr.Agyepong, emphasized that they didn’t come to this conclusion simply by reports. He said “I have personally gone through the ordeal to check for myself what is happening at these micro firms and businesses. I have made several calls and checks.

I have visited lots of corners, joints, shops and entered the markets. From Accra to Koforidua, Kumasi to Techiman to Sunyani to Tamale to Bolga and with various reports from Takoradi and Sefwi-Wiawso, many young folks are poorly remunerated and many cannot cross even half of the month with their monthly salaries.

In Sunyani I visited schools, chop bars, food joints, restaurants, Nika Nika Centres, pharmacies, insurance companies and on the average, workers were paid less than Ghc 500 a month. Yesterday, I spent almost my day visiting various shops.

I was at Suame Magazine to check for myself the employee needs of companies and salaries paid to workers. I visited Costino shop, Abumens Motors, Caesar Abass Motors, Heligyei, all in Suame Magazine. I furthered my visits to Rexford Kwadwo Sefa Shoemaking in Ashtown, Ike’s Shoe Enterprise, Flexible Footwear and Designing Enterprise, Freeman Amoako Shoes, Anastic Royals all in Manhyia and I passed through Wenya Akpene Gifty Enterprise at Abrepo Junction. Though you may not love to know how much employees at these small enterprises receive, you can be rest assured they need help with both extra hands and salary support.
Stressing that “this is where BEAP comes in. This is where YEA says, Hire –YEA will pay!!!

Mr.Agyapong revealed that YEA is targeting to support about 10,000 companies with an average of 2 employees per company hence employing about 20,000 people in all.

Beginning February 2024, we will be on boarding these 20,000 employees as beneficiaries of YEA who will be paid every month as long as our Monitoring and Evaluation team (M&E) certifies that they worked.

According to him,the recruitment of the 20,000 will not be the end of unemployment in Ghana but at least, we would have given hope to some young people and would also have heavily reduced the growing unemployment rate.
He said one key issue about this huge programme is funding and sustainability.

“Let me address it before you pull your trigger with bullet of questions at me. YEA has a stable source of funding from the Communication Service Tax or what we usually refer to as

Talk tax. As we sit here today, the taxes from the calls you make and the data you use all come to YEA to fund the Agency. We have as management, put together a deliberate policy to direct the use of these funds solely to the creation of jobs, jobs and jobs for the youth of this country. This is why as at today January 10th 2024,

The YEA CEO continues,”I can beat my chest and tell you confidently without fears that YEA owes none of our beneficiaries working under our traditional modules. We are up to date with all beneficiary payments and this can also be fact-checked.

My good friends in the media, this programme is of utmost importance to us and we greatly need your assistance to make it succeed.

This is why we took painstaking steps to obtain an executive approval from His Excellency the President and the Ministry of Finance before the programme was also successfully launched by His Excellency the Vice President, Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia in Sunyani last year on the 11th December, 2023,

In fact, we are even able to meet here today because the Ministry of Finance has started releasing funds to the Agency for the commencement of this programme.

We at YEA are eternally grateful to the President and the Vice President of this republic for their immeasurable contribution to this programme.

We have no reason to fail and we definitely will not fail.”,he assured