Samaritan Angels targets 20,000 jobs with ‘I Am Investible’ project

A GH₵10million project that seeks to facilitate the development of small and medium enterprises has been launched with a call on entrepreneurs to take advantage of the offer to grow their businesses.

The ‘I Am Investible’ project which is a brainchild of the Samaritan Angels Limited was launched on Monday, January 30, 2023, to provide quintessential services in the areas of finance, mentorship, and capital to Ghanaian businesses.

The project is aimed at providing support in the above-mentioned areas to accelerate the growth and expansion of businesses in both formal and informal sectors.

It came to light during the launch that the project will offer financial help of GH₵10million to 200 enterprises with 2000 others getting technical and guide for the next three years.

It is projected that the intervention will lead to the creation of over 20,000 in the next three years.

Delivering a speech at the launch, Nana Yaw Amponsah, a board member of the Samaritan Angels Limited disclosed that the informal sector is the major target of the project as the firm believes that with the requisite financial and technical assistance, businesses in the sector will expand and recruit more employees.

He noted that the small and medium-scale enterprises are the major drivers of the Ghanaian economy and that an intervention that seeks to accelerate their growth will directly and positively impact the general Ghanaian economy.

“We are going to focus more on the informal sector because that is where the most help is needed. If you look at the coconut seller on the street, the chop bar operators, the barber, the seamstress, the tailor, carpenter, these are people who really need help. Not just monetary help but mentorship, and guidance to be able to sustain their businesses because many times you ask people what you need and they will say money," he said.

“Money is the first thing they need but all these businesses if you give them money without the necessary technical support and guidance they will go bust and we know a lot of SMEs collapse because of lack of technical support, a lot of guidance. It’s going to be a transparent process,” the Board Chairman of Samaritan Angels assured.

On his expectations from the businesses who will benefit from the project, Nana Yaw Amponsah said “we expect that when you get the funding you actually think of supporting society by employing at least one person to also have a livelihood. We also expect that you give back to society because we definitely envisage that many huge corporations will emerge out of this."

The Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Bright Wireko Brobbey ties in with the government’s job creation drive.

He assured that the government will provide the needed support for the project to succeed as it will prove to be a game-changer in the job-creation exercise.

“Government is ready to collaborate to bring real hope through effective cooperation and networking with other state actors."

“We are confident that such arrangement will enable enterprises to strive,” Bright Wireko Brobbey said in the speech.