President of the Ghana Youth Federation, Sherif Ghali, has highlighted the lack of start-up capital as a major barrier preventing young Ghanaians who complete apprenticeship programmes from turning their skills into sustainable livelihoods.

Speaking at the National Youth Forum on Wednesday, August 19, Mr. Ghali said acquiring vocational skills alone was not enough to guarantee economic independence when young people lacked the resources to establish their own businesses.

He cited the example of a young woman in Kasoa who had completed an apprenticeship but had been unable to raise GH¢1,500 to purchase a sewing machine and begin working independently.

“That is a young woman in Kasoa who has finished her apprenticeship but for the past two years cannot raise 1,500 cedis to buy a sewing machine,” he said.

Mr. Ghali said the situation illustrated a broader challenge within efforts to address youth unemployment, where young people may acquire employable skills but remain economically inactive because they cannot access the capital needed to put those skills to use.

He noted that youth unemployment currently stands at 21.9%, compared with a national average of 12.8%, while the rate in the Greater Accra Region is 31.9%.

According to him, nearly two million young Ghanaians between the ages of 15 and 35 are neither in education, employment, nor training, underscoring the scale of the challenge facing the country’s youth.

He said the experience of the young woman in Kasoa demonstrated how relatively modest financing gaps could prevent trained young people from becoming self-employed.

The Ghana Youth Federation President therefore called for stronger government interventions to address youth unemployment and create sustainable opportunities for young people.