Despite Group CEO Is A Typical Example Of How The Youth Can Utilize YES Fund - Ras Mubarak

National Coordinator of the National Youth Authority, Ras Mubarak is in support of President Mahama�s Youth Enterprise Support (YES) Fund program and has charged critics of the Ghc 10 million fund to admit that it is better to start up the program with this amount than to have nothing to support the brilliant youth entrepreneurs with financial difficulties. A Ghc10m ($2.6m) Youth Fund set up to help Ghana�s budding entrepreneurs, will be disbursed on merit, the country�s President has said. John Mahama told an audience in the national capital, Accra, at an event to mark International Youth Day on Tuesday that there will be no political bias in the disbursement of the Youth Enterprise Support (YES) Fund. President Mahama launched the Fund Tuesday evening in fulfillment of a 2012 campaign promise, adding that the Fund is intended to help young brilliant entrepreneurs turn their job creation ideas into reality, so they become job creators rather than job seekers. John Mahama said the Fund will be used to train young entrepreneurs, as well as provide capital and mentorship for them. But many critics have argued that the fund is not enough to assist the young entrepreneurs in the country as huge capital will be required to help them set up their companies. Reacting to critics' concerns on Okay FM�s �Ade Akye Abia" programe, Ras Mubarak posited that it is better to have something than to have nothing for the youth; thus as the program progresses, the fund will be replenished to pave way for other youth to access the fund. He maintained that government is not doling out the monies to the youth as gifts but rather the money is intended to cushion the youth in their entrepreneurial businesses as they find it difficult to access loans from the banks. �As we have heard people saying the fund is too small, I want to say that it is not too small because we have entrepreneurs who have used as little as Ghc 2,000 or Ghc 5,000 to start their businesses and now many of them have started exporting their goods to the US and Canada markets to sell their goods and products. Everybody started from a humble beginning; I know that my brother Despite (CEO of Peace FM, Hello FM, Okay FM, Neat FM, Neat Foods, U2 Salt among others) started from a humble beginning and he didn�t start with all these companies he now has under his umbrella with huge funds, but the business rather grew. Let the youth keep in mind that you don�t necessarily have to start in a big and grand style to put up factories, but in very modest ways you should be able to do something for yourself,� he charged the youth.