Report by Ben LARYEA
The World Bank has expressed its satisfaction at the level of the entrepreneurship drive that the country has
embarked upon as well as the government’s effort to leverage digital entrepreneurship and the creation of digital
innovation centres for young people to apply and use as startups.
It would be recalled that government in its quest to scale up entrepreneurship for young people to be self-
independent in their working endeavours established two tech hubs in Accra and Kumasi namely Ghana
Tech Lab and Ghana Innovation Hubs and forms part of the drive for the youth to take advantage of the
potentials in entrepreneurship.
The hubs are under the auspices of the “E-Transform” project aimed at facilitating and develop the
innovation ecosystem in several ways and includes the sensitisation and connecting potential investors with
opportunities for tech start-up companies.
Consequently, it is geared towards the strengthening of talents and skills in digital capacity through technical
and entrepreneurship training and the ability to connect local, regional and international ecosystems.
This entrepreneurship development came to light during a tour by the World Bank Managing Director
Anna Bjerde and other officials to have first-hand information on projects financed by the World Bank in
Accra.
The delegation among others visited project such as the Ghana Accountability and Learning Outcomes Project, the Ghana Tech Hub and the Ghana Innovation Hub at the Accra Digital Center.
The World Bank have in Ghana since 1957 with an active portfolio worth $3.6 billion across 21 active
projects and spreads across several sectors with huge investments in Urban Resilience and Land (17%)
health, nutrition and population (16%) Finance and Competitiveness (14%), Social Protection & Jobs (12%)
and Digital Development (11%).
Anna Bjerde at the Ghana Innovation Hub in an interaction with the media urged young people in the
entrepreneurship space to be innovative and scale up their skills and to enable them produce the needed
goods and services to the job market.
She however advised young entrepreneurs to measure their growth, successes and challenges in the market
environment to enable them be abreast with emerging trends as well as be at a competitive edge in relation to
their market products.
The visit took the delegation to the New Gbawe Municipal Assembly (M/A) Basic ‘1’ Primary and Junior
Secondary school of which teachers and facilitators under the IDA funded Ghana Accountability for
Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP) expressed their gratitude to the World Bank saying the building of
capacities have enhanced skills particularly the teaching of children of reading and numeracy skills as well
as the preparation of teaching and easy access to learning materials.
For his part, the Head teacher of New Gbawe M/A Basic ‘1’, Mr. Bob Djah said the GALOP have created an
enabling environment for children and teachers at the basic level to effectively corporate in areas such as
reading and writing.
The Deputy Minister of Education, Rev. Ntim Fordjour thanked the World Bank for their continuous support
to education in the country saying the gesture will enhance the growth and development of country’s
educational infrastructure and systems of the country.
