On 8th March, the British Council Ghana announced the inauguration of the British Council Skills Hub and Innovation Centre. In the presence of His Excellency Papa Kwesi Amissah Arthur, Her Excellency Matilda Amissah Arthur, the British High Commissioner His Excellency Jon Benjamin and a host of esteemed dignitaries and heads of business, the British Council demonstrated their commitment to the skills and entrepreneurial agenda, seeking to address the employment issues that face Ghanaian youth today by bringing the private sector into youth skills development and entrepreneurship.
The event saw the inauguration of the Skills Hub, as well as hosting a private sector policy dialogue ‘Private Sector Partnerships for (Social) Enterprise Growth’. Speaking in support of youth development and the fostering of local enterprise were also the President of the Association of Ghana Industries, James Asare-Adjei, and Neil Fleming, a representative of Challenges Worldwide, a UK social enterprise organization.
The British Council is the UK’s cultural relations organization. In Ghana, one of the British Council’s key aims is to ensure that young people have the skills necessary to meet their employment or entrepreneurial aspirations.
Working with private-sector investment, the British Council has created the Skills Hub, a virtual and physical resource that offers resources, skills, expertise and knowledge sharing catering to the needs of young Ghanaians by providing them with access to innovative products and spaces.
The Hub seeks to provide a training, business incubation and innovation centre that understands and caters to the needs of the Ghanaian and global job market by providing long term transferable skills.
In conjunction with partners like Barclays and the Rockefeller Foundation they have already developed training courses to empower and give employability and entrepreneurial skills to over 5,000 young people to date, and they are looking forward to further partnerships with local business to offer a bright future to thousands more.