November 2018 marks the celebration of the Global Entrepreneurship Month as Ghana joins over 170 countries all over the world in this celebration.

In a statement to commemorate the celebration of the Global Entrepreneurship Month, President Akufo-Addo said entrepreneurship was a vital component of economic growth and development, and had been globally considered and embraced as one of the most important drivers of economic growth.

“Together let's unite to advance job-creation, unleash innovation and fight poverty through the power of entrepreneurship,” he stated.
 
Fostering entrepreneurship

He said that fostering entrepreneurship and innovation to advance job-creation and economic prosperity was at the heart of the work undertaken by his administration.

The government, according to the President, was therefore committed to creating a conducive, business-friendly environment which would result in a thriving private sector and the creation of wealth and jobs for the teeming masses of Ghanaian youth.  

Consequently, he said that over the past 22 months, the government had been working to improve the business environment by reducing the overall cost of doing business and improving the macroeconomic space to reduce significantly the cost of borrowing.

Ghana, he further stated, had made progress in the ease of doing business, and cited the World Bank Group 2019 Doing Business Report as a case in point.

He said that the country improved its ranking to 114 out of 190 countries, up six places from 120 in the 2018 Doing Business Report.

World Bank

According to the World Bank “It is encouraging to see that progress is being made to improve the business environment to promote investments by both domestic and foreign firms, so necessary to spur growth, provide jobs and further reduce poverty”.

The government, the President said, was diligently pursuing other measures that would  go a long way towards the digitisation and formalisation of the economy to accelerate growth and improve domestic revenue mobilisation.

These he said included the implementation of the digital address system with area codes; introduction of the National Identification Card – the Ghana Card; mobile inter-operability within the banking and financial sector; the paperless port clearing operations at the ports; and the e-registration of businesses at the Registrar-General’s Department.

Economic conditions

He said that he was determined to change the economic conditions in the country for the better so that young people who constituted the future saw the country as a place of opportunity instead of a place from which they flew at the peril of their lives
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Those who set up businesses must succeed for them to create wealth and employ more people. This is the best way to turn our beloved country’s fortunes around, and I salute all our hard working and creative entrepreneurs for their contribution to the economic development of our country, he stated.