An initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development has launched a project with Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) to provide specialised academic and practical training for over a hundred youth within the hospitality sector.
This is expected to lead to immediate employment. Invest for Jobs is the brand of the Special Initiative on Training and Job Creation, implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH among others.
Unemployment is a key challenge facing Ghana; half of the young people between the ages of 15-24 in Ghana are currently out of school and out of these 27% do not work. GIZ and MEST seek to address this growing unemployment problem with a targeted project that qualifies young people for the employment promising hospitality sector.
The tourism and hospitality sector is a major driver of the Ghanaian economy. Projections for tourist receipts in the National Tourism Development Plan (2013 – 2027) show a rise from $1.5 Billion US Dollars in 2017 to $2.5 Billion US Dollars in 2022, and $4.3bn in 2027. The gross contribution of foreign exchange to GDP is also expected to rise from 5.0% in 2017 to 5.2% in 2022 and to reach 5.7% by 2027 (ILO, 2020).
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the sector to a range of external factors which have had adverse impacts on the sector.
To further build resilience against the impacts of these factors, a range of trends including digitalisation, demand for increased quality of customer service and related skills development is expected to drive the change.
“The project combines both traditional classroom, apprenticeship and practical methodologies.
Training will involve in-hotel accommodation for trainees and hands-on lessons from experienced hoteliers and consultants”, revealed Israel Agbeti, Director of Consultancy at MEST.
“Courses provided include food and beverage services, bartending and strategic managers’ training.”
The training will be provided by JB Consultant Group with practical situational training expected to take place at La Villa Boutique Hotel, Accra; both JB Consultant Group and La Villa Boutique Hotel are collaborating with MEST on the project.
The project will also provide a platform where trainees and well-established hospitality industry players will be matched, thereby creating employment opportunities.
“The project falls within the core mandate of Invest for Jobs: Creating training opportunities and jobs, especially for youth and women by partnering with the private sector to address investment barriers like the qualification of potential employees,” explains Anne-Marie Castel-Langefeld, Head of Component ‘Business & Invest’ of the Special Initiative on Training and Job Creation during the official launch in Accra.
“Through the cooperation with MEST, we expect to create 120 training opportunities and 90 jobs by the end of 2022,” added Mrs. Castel-Langefeld.
About MEST
MEST is a non-profit Pan-African training program, fund, incubator and hub for entrepreneurs building world-class tech companies, founded in 2009. The Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology offers graduate-level entrepreneurship training in business, communications and software development for African youth. MEST was launched in Ghana and expanded into Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa over the past decade. It was established by the Meltwater Foundation, the non-profit arm of Meltwater, a global leader in media intelligence software. MEST was founded to train and mentor young Africans so they can develop their technology skills and become future software entrepreneurs. The Meltwater Foundation’s long-term goal is to create wealth and increase jobs in Africa. For more information, please visit: www.meltwater.org.
About GIZ
As a provider of international cooperation services for sustainable development and international education work, GIZ is dedicated to building a future worth living around the world. GIZ has over 50 years of experience in a wide variety of areas, including economic development and employment, energy and the environment, and peace and security. We work with businesses, civil society actors, and research institutions, fostering successful interaction between development policy and other policy fields and areas of activity. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is our main commissioning party. Currently, GIZ promotes sustainable development in Ghana via about 50 programmes and projects. Our activities currently cover three priority areas: Energy and Climate, with a concentration on renewable energy and energy efficiency; Training and Sustainable Growth for Decent Jobs, and Peaceful and Inclusive Societies, which looks at good governance. For more information, please visit www.giz.de/ghana.
About the Invest for Jobs
GIZ has been commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development to implement the Special Initiative on Training and Job Creation under the Invest for Jobs brand in Ghana. The objective is to promote job-creating growth of enterprises in Ghana and other African countries. To this end, measures will be implemented to help build a more enabling environment for investment by European enterprises in Ghana, increase the capacities of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Ghana and improve the business ecosystem for selected sectors. For more information please visit: www.invest-for-jobs.com/en/.