Youth urged to seek support from coaches for sustainable start-ups and MSMEs

Prince Ackuaku, a Business Development Coach and banker, has called on the youth to seek support from coaches and specialists to have sustainable start-ups and Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Businesses (MSMEs). Mr. Ackuaku noted that business planning, research, and hands-on training were very key in business survival apart from finance.

He encouraged young and start-up entrepreneurs to seek assistance from business coaches, who could help them set goals and develop a strategic plan over a certain period to achieve set targets.

According to Mr. Ackuaku, MSMEs constitute about 85% of businesses in Ghana, making their sustenance critical to economic development and employment creation. However, most MSMEs tend to fizzle out in a brief time due to a myriad of challenges, including access to finance and market, lack of proper bookkeeping and inadequate research. He suggested that these challenges could be surmounted if young people in business or those who intend to operate MSMEs seek assistance from business coaches.

Mr. Ackuaku called for the right environment to be created by the Government for MSMEs to thrive. He urged the government to support business incubation centres, whose work has also become critical for start-ups in recent years. Among others, the incubators, he said help people with bookkeeping, marketing, financial strategies, operational scale up, which is critical to business survival, therefore, must be encouraged.

The Business Development Coach also noted that there were opportunities to be explored in the agricultural sector, and the post-COVID-19 period was bringing up more businesses in the hospitality, pharmaceuticals, and travel and tour businesses, among others.

Mr. Ackuaku encouraged young entrepreneurs to seek assistance from business coaches to surmount the challenges that come with starting and operating MSMEs, and also called on the government to create the right environment for MSMEs to thrive.