MT OLIVET METHODIST CHURCH SUPPORTS YOUTH ENTREPRENEURS

Story: Sarah Naa Merley Mensah & Emmanuel Ashong, Dansoman

The Mt Olivet Methodist Church in the Dansoman Circuit of the Accra Diocese has provided financial and technical support to five youth entrepreneurs in the Church.

The beneficiaries who received a total of GHS 30,000 are the second cohorts of graduands of the Church’s Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme which has “given sums of money to help them [youth] start-up and scale-up their businesses”, according to Bro Samuel Kingsford Seglah, a Society Steward at Mt Olivet Methodist Church.

The programme which provided a platform for participants to undergo 17-week training in Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Management, Emotional Intelligence, Social Media Marketing, Cash Flow, Book Keeping and Basic Accounting, also “afforded us an opportunity to access loans from the Church”, said one participant.

Presenting the graduands to congregants at the Mt Olivet Methodist Chapel, Dansoman on Sunday, July 31, 2022, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Mt Olivet Youth Development Fund, Bro Dr Alexander Kwame Archine, disclosed that, “The Trustee was set-up in 2017 to oversee funds mobilized by the Church through our annual Harvest to support young graduates who after graduating from university have no job”.

The five beneficiaries were Sis Salomey Asantewaa Addison of ‘Addis Catering Services’; Nana Esi Hutchful of ‘Hutchies Honey’; and Sis Bernice Ama Serwaa Bonsu of ‘Yes Lord Reigns Enterprise’, a hand-crafted ladies’ and gents’ foot wears producer who received a sum of GHS 5000, GHS 10,000 and GHS 15,000 interest-free loans respectively to inject into their businesses. The others were Sis Sarah Adadzewa Ofe-Ameyaw of ‘Klasique Occasions’, an event styling and creative hub and Sis Justina Nunoo who both received technical support.

The beneficiaries, who were given the opportunity to pitch their business ideas to the congregants, were full of praise to the Church for the support extended to them.  “The Church doesn’t provide our spiritual needs alone, they have added what we needed to support our businesses and we say a big thank you to our papas here and every one of you”, Ms Serwaa Bonsu remarked.

Bro Dr Archine, appealed to congregants to support the beneficiary businesses, adding “this is one way of evangelizing and ensuring that we get the youth to attend and remain in Church”.  

The participants and facilitators of the programme were presented with certificates of participation and appreciation respectively by the Presiding Bishop of The Methodist Church Ghana, the Most Rev Dr Paul Kwabena Boafo. He was assisted by the Superintendent Minister of the Dansoman Circuit, the Rt Rev Christopher Nyarko Andam.