News
Graduate abandons corporate dream, goes into gari production
• Sharon busily processing some cassava
One advantage that is at the disposal of today’s entrepreneurs is innovation.
The scientific community today has created a platform for innovation especially among young people.
So, the current generation of young men and women who venture into entrepreneurship are making things through technology and innovation.
In the face of the current economic turbulence, there have been calls on government to ban or look into the importation of goods that can be locally produced to improve the market in Ghana.
Interestingly, there are young entrepreneurs already in the system adding value to the locally produced goods and one such inspiring innovator is 32-year old Sharon Ayertey Yomle who is defying all odds at Dodowa to add value to gari.
Sharon grew up at Dodowa in the Greater Accra Region and attended Krobo Girls Senior High School in the Eastern Region where she studied Business and later graduated from the University of Cape Coast with a first degree in Commerce in 2019.
She, like most young Ghanaians, was attracted to securing a corporate job after school though she had a business plan.
Interacting with The Spectator , Sharon intended to start this project during her retirement but she was privileged to join the British Council and Giz Jobs in Africa incubation programme in 2019.
According to her, the idea to start Yomle Foods was born at the programme when one facilitator advised her to start from somewhere.
The advice ignited some passion in her to take that step with the little resources she had.
The first resource at her disposal started her first product, Yommy Gari and it was welcomed on the market.
Subsequently, she added the Soya Gari Mix, Tombrown, Rice Cereal Mix, Ginger Powder and others.
She stated that Yomle Foods sought to be a sustainable food production hub as she planned to give more income to rural farmers and women by engaging their services in producing these products.
This, she said, would give them a livelihood and a market for their farm produce.
Ms Yomle admitted that as a graduate of the just-ended acceleration programme, Orange Corners, organised by the Netherlands Embassy and its partners between March and August this year, it has given her a whole idea of the future direction of Yomle foods in the next five years through the pragmatic steps in place to achieve that.
She explained that as small-scale business, she encountered many funding challenges.
She cited for instance, the prices of raw materials, packaging materials and penetrating the current market with the products to be daunting.
Though faced with these challenges, she is grateful to the Ghana Enterprise Agency for being available and providing entrepreneurial support financial literacy training to young businesses.
She noted that there had been meetings and suggestions in the soya beans value chain and hopes the government would listen to these tabled concerns of those in the value chain and provide the needed solutions to stop the increment in the prices of such products to enable small-scale businesses to stay in business.
Ms Yomle stated that the importation of soya for instance, had been causing a price hike in soya beans so local small businesses like hers and those in soya oil production and other soya based products were forced to use more capital on raw materials but was optimistic about government’s intervention.
From Ken Afedzi, Dodowa
News
NPP condems arrest of Okatakyie Afrifa Mensah
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has condemned the arrest and detention of Okatakyie Afrifa Mensah by operatives of the National Security.
In a statement signed by the General Secretary, Justin Kodua noted that “This unlawful action by the marauding operatives of the National Security is the latest installment of the ongoing series of state-sponsored attacks on the media by the NDC government, in their desperate attempt to silence the media and curtail press freedom.”
According to the him, “The Party condemns in no uncertain terms this state-sponsored lawlessness and commends the many well-meaning Ghanaians who spoke loudly against this shameful conduct by the National Security. We also commend the young people and the team of lawyers who stormed the National Security Secretariat this evening to see to the release of the abducted journalist.”
“The NPP wishes to remind President Mahama and his government that the Ghana that was bequeathed to them on January 7, 2025, was a free country. It was the bastion of democracy, underpinned not only by the existence of functioning democratic institutions but also by our unflinching commitment to upholding press freedom as enshrined in Chapter 12 of the 1992 Constitution,” they added.
Read the full statement below
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 19, 2025
*NEW PATRIOTIC PARTY CONDEMNS THE UNLAWFUL ARREST OF VETERAN JOURNALIST, OKATAKYIE AFRIFA MENSAH BY NATIONAL SECURITY OPERATIVES*
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) condemns the unlawful arrest and detention by operatives of the National Security, of Okatakyie Afrifa Mensah, a veteran journalist, who has been critical of the John Mahama administration.
This unlawful action by the marauding operatives of the National Security is the latest installment of the ongoing series of state-sponsored attacks on the media by the NDC government, in their desperate attempt to silence the media and curtail press freedom.
The Party condemns in no uncertain terms this state-sponsored lawlessness and commends the many well-meaning Ghanaians who spoke loudly against this shameful conduct by the National Security. We also commend the young people and the team of lawyers who stormed the National Security Secretariat this evening to see to the release of the abducted journalist.
The NPP wishes to remind President Mahama and his government that the Ghana that was bequeathed to them on January 7, 2025, was a free country. It was the bastion of democracy, underpinned not only by the existence of functioning democratic institutions but also by our unflinching commitment to upholding press freedom as enshrined in Chapter 12 of the 1992 Constitution.
In line with this commitment, the country also went through the painstaking process of repealing the Criminal and Seditious Libel Law in 2001, a process that was spearheaded by the immediate past President, H.E Nana Addo Akufo-Addo, who was then the Attorney General of the Republic.
It is therefore completely repugnant and unacceptable for the John Mahama administration to be using State Security to intimidate political opponents as well as media personnel in a bid to silence all critical voices This, in fact, is an egregious affront to our democratic and constitutional tenets.
We call on the Ghana Journalist Association, the Media Foundation of West Africa, Civil Society Organizations, and all stakeholders to join us in demanding an immediate cessation of this tyranny and growing culture of state-sponsored attacks on the media.
Enough is enough.
…Signed…
JUSTIN KODUA FRIMPONG
GENERAL SECRETARY
News
We have built enough buffers to pay all DDEP obligations – Finance Minister Ato Forson
Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has assured banks that the government has built sufficient financial buffers to meet all Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) obligations this year.
Speaking at a high-level meeting with over 22 Managing Directors of banks, he reaffirmed the government’s commitment to fiscal responsibility and restoring confidence in the financial sector.
“We do not intend to default,” Dr. Forson declared.
“All outstanding holdouts have been paid, and we have put in place the necessary buffers to ensure that every single DDEP obligation for this year will be met.”
The Minister explained that these buffers were created through fiscal discipline, strategic investment cuts, and prudent resource allocation.
As part of this approach, the government has reset goods and services expenditure to 2023 levels and is working to achieve a primary surplus of 1.5% to sustain economic stability.
He also announced plans to submit a fiscal responsibility rule to Parliament, which will set a debt ceiling that the Ministry of Finance cannot exceed.
This measure aims to prevent excessive borrowing and reinforce financial discipline.
Beyond ensuring timely DDEP payments, Dr Forson revealed that the government is taking deliberate steps to reduce reliance on the Treasury bill market.
By improving coordination between fiscal and monetary policies, the government aims to stabilize interest rates and ease liquidity pressures on the banking sector.
Source: Myjoyonline.com
