Accra: Mrs. Juliana Asante-Dartey, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Agri-Impact Limited, has encouraged Ghanaian youth to explore opportunities in agribusiness, urging them to transition from job seekers to job creators, innovators, and leaders. She made this appeal during the Young Agribusiness Professionals (YAPP) Cohort 3 Grande Finale and Awards Night held in Accra, which aimed to celebrate and equip young professionals completing their national service with Agri-Impact and its partners.
According to Ghana News Agency, the event themed 'Celebrating Excellence and New Beginnings' gathered stakeholders from agribusiness, finance, and development sectors to honor remarkable service personnel and emphasize pathways for youth empowerment in agriculture. Mrs. Asante-Dartey pointed out that youth unemployment is one of Ghana's significant challenges, with over 300,000 graduates entering the labor market annually, yet fewer than 10 percent secure jobs within the first year.
Mrs. Asante-Dartey highlighted the necessity of structured workplace learning initiatives like YAPP, which are crucial to addressing unemployment. She emphasized that Agri-Impact's mission revolves around youth advancement, skills development, and talent management, with over 80 percent of its workforce being under 35. She further elaborated on the Entrepreneurship for Opportunity Actualization (EopAct) programme, a USAID-funded initiative begun in 2016 across five African countries, which has successfully transitioned graduate interns and startup founders into agribusiness professionals.
Agri-Impact has collaborated with the National Service Authority (NSA) for the past three years, mentoring and placing over 200 young professionals in agribusiness roles. The YAPP programme, a flagship mentorship and workplace learning model, prepares interns, national service personnel, and young recruits for agribusiness careers. This year's programme, in collaboration with TNS and Jobberman, included sessions on CV writing, job applications, mock interviews, public speaking, professional grooming, gender and safeguarding, and leveraging AI tools.
Mrs. Asante-Dartey announced that Agri-Impact had received approval from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to deliver accredited short courses in partnership with the Centre for Capacity Building and Innovation. This initiative aims to institutionalize youth capacity building, providing structured, sustainable, and accredited training pathways for young individuals in agribusiness.
She urged the awardees to perceive their year of service as an investment in skills, networks, and entrepreneurial ideas rather than a waiting period. Mrs. Asante-Dartey encouraged the youth to embrace agribusiness as a frontier for innovation and leadership, emphasizing that the future of African agriculture depends on its youth, who must become employers, leaders, and trailblazers.
The event concluded with awards being presented to outstanding service personnel whose creativity, commitment, and leadership set them apart during their service year.
