Professor Franklyn Manu, Board Chairman of MTN Ghana Foundation, has advocated the promotion of entrepreneurship among the youth as part of efforts to address the challenges of youth unemployment.

He made the call in Accra during the MTN Ghana’s “Bright Conversations”, a series of discussions and events, initiated to celebrate distinguished personalities and their contributions to Ghanaian society.

MTN encourages entrepreneurship among Ghanaian youth through initiatives like the Enterprise Support Programme, which provides funding and training to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and by partnering youth summits and digital skills training to empower young people to start and grow businesses.

These programmes focus on building practical skills, fostering financial literacy, and driving digital inclusion to create jobs and a more resilient economy.

Prof Manu reiterated the need for stakeholders to focus more on the growth of the nation’s economy, as part of efforts to address the challenges of the teeming unemployed youth.

He said youth unemployment was a time bomb in the country, which needed to be addressed.

He said the mindset among many youths was that they were finishing school and someone else was going to hire them.

“So doing things on our own becomes a challenge. Maybe lack of funding, lack of motivation. We are more comfortable with someone else paying them a monthly salary and all of that.

“But our economy is not growing to absorb all these youth who are going through JHS, SHS and universities. It’s not happening. So, I think that’s where we really need to focus our efforts,” he said.

Prof Manu said micro enterprises were basically struggling to survive, and so they needed to really put in the systems to help these micro enterprises.

This, he said, was because the micro enterprises, probably in terms of employment numbers, were much higher than their so-called big companies.

He advised the youth to work hard, be honest and to take pride in their work.

“Take pride in your work, that is what will make you successful,” Prof Manu said.