REP SUPPORTS GRADUATE APPRENTICES (NSEMPA, PAGE 21)

By Akwasi Ampratwum-Mensah, Bechem.

THE Rural Enterprises Project (REP) has presented workshop kits valued at GH¢12,000 to 30 apprentices, who underwent skills training in various traditional trades in the Tano South District of the Brong Ahafo Region.
In 2006, the REP initiated the Technology Promotion and Support Apprenticeship Training Component to serve as a catalyst for the creation of employment avenues for people especially the youth and thereby improve their living conditions.
The graduate apprentice support scheme of the REP covers a wide range of trades including auto repairs, blacksmithing, shoemaking, tailoring and dressmaking, barbering, hairdressing and beauty care, carpentry, vulcanizing and masonry.
For the first half of this year, the REP, which is funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Government of Ghana (GOG), has supplied items worth about GH¢220,000 to 30 districts in the country, including Tano South.
Mr Kwasi Attah-Antwi, the National Project Coordinator of the REP, who made the presentation at a ceremony at Bechem, disclosed that, over the last two years, over 1,700 youth in the country who had successfully completed their apprenticeship training on their own or with the support of their parents, had benefited from the scheme.
In all, he said, the project planned to assist about 6,000 youth in traditional apprenticeship training to establish their various enterprises after graduation.
According to Mr Attah-Antwi, the opportunity to support more graduate apprentices with workshop kits was still available for the next three years.
On every occasion, a minimum of GH¢9,000 was earmarked annually for the graduate apprentices for each district and what was required was the commitment of the district assemblies to identify the right beneficiaries and also contribute their portion of the cost of items in time each year.
“We wish to encourage all districts to take advantage of this facility to enable the entrepreneurial graduate apprentices become self-employed and we appeal to the recipients of these items to take good care of them and make good use of the opportunity”, the project co-ordinator advised.
He again urged the assemblies and the Business Advisory Centres (BACs) of the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) to constantly monitor and counsel the beneficiaries to ensure that their newly established businesses thrive to contribute to improvements in their standard of living as well as the economy of the entire district.
Mr Attah-Antwi noted that, traditional apprenticeship training schemes were usually faced with a number of challenges, one of which was unavailability of start-up capital for the graduate apprentices to establish their own businesses.
Naturally, he pointed out that, most banks and credit sources were unwilling to lend to such apprentices because they were considered to be high-risk borrowers.
“From our experience in the field, we estimate that only 23 percent of graduate apprentices are able to establish their own businesses after successfully completing apprenticeship training and the remaining 77 per cent are unable to do so mainly due to lack of start-up capital”, he observed.
Mr Attah-Antwi explained that, through the scheme, the project provided various types of start-up kits, made up of basic tools and equipment to selected graduate apprentices who had the potential to transform their lives and provide support to their families through their own enterprises.
The District Chief Execute (DCE) for Tano South, Mr Osei Sekyere Bota, expressed his gratitude to the beneficiaries and urged them to take good care of the tools and equipment which he said, were meant to improve upon their livelihood.