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The government has re-affirmed its commitment to leveraging technology to create sustainable jobs for the youth while strengthening partner-ships with the private sector to ac-celerate economic transformation.

Speaking at the 65th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Ghana Employers’ Association (GEA) in Accra yesterday, the Minister of Labour, Jobs and Employment, Dr Abdul Rashid Hassan Pelpuo, said employment creation remained the “true measure” of economic progress, rather than mere Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth.

He explained that government policies were being tailored to equip young people with practical and technological skills to meet industry demands.

“The private sector is the en-gine of growth, and our focus is to give businesses the confidence and support they need to expand and employ.

In this digital age, our invest-ment in skills development, vocational training and artificial intelligence will ensure our youth are not left behind,” Dr Pelpuo stated.

According to him, reforms in education were ongoing to align curricula with market needs, while stronger collaboration was being encouraged between industry and training institutions through internships and appren-ticeships.

He further assured the GEA that government was streamlining regulations and deploying digital tools to enhance business operations, stressing that em-ployment generation was central to the country’s transfor-mation agenda.

The Chief Execu-tive Officer of MTN Ghana, Mr Stephen Blewett, pledged the company’s support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through digital innovation.

Describing technology as the “lifeline of modern business,” by saying that that enterprises adopt-ing digital tools would remain competitive in the 21st century.

Mr Blewett noted that MTN was rolling out SME digital hubs, capacity-building programmes and tailored solutions to help businesses formalise, scale up and access global markets.

He also highlighted MTN’s investments in artificial intelli-gence, the $25 million ICT Hub project, and partnerships with government to enhance digital skills, stating that “the way forward for enterprise development is unmistakably digital.”

For his part, the GEA President, Nana Dr Emmanuel Adu-Sarpong Afriyie, urged government to introduce a job creation tax credit to support the 24-hour economy and incen-tivise large-scale employment.

He also called for strengthen-ing rural and community banks to improve SME financing, while proposing the organisation of a National Employment Summit.

Dr Afriyie underscored the urgency of harnessing technol-ogy for enterprise development, citing artificial intelligence, digital finance and e-commerce as key drivers of productivity and youth employment.

He, however, expressed con-cern over the surge in cybercrime, emphasising that reported cases had risen by 52 per cent this year, and called for stronger national cybersecurity measures.

On the broader economy, he commended the decline in infla-tion to 11.5 per cent but appealed for a further reduction in lending rates to ease the cost of credit for businesses.

The AGM, held on the theme: ‘Leveraging Technology for Enterprise and the Way Forward’, brought together captains of industry, employers, government officials and development part-ners to deliberate on strategies for enterprise growth and sustain-able job creation in a technolo-gy-driven economy.

BY EUGENE AMPIAW & HERTY BROWN

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