John Dramani Mahama has challenged the popular belief school leavers must have already-made employment as against creating employment.

He spoke during the launch of the 2024 National Democratic Congress (NDC) Manifesto, Saturday, August 24, in Winneba, Central Region.

Inspiring young people to venture into entrepreneurship instead of waiting for jobs that may never materialise, he assured his government will ensure they had a conducive environment to thrive in no matter how new or small their businesses were.

“We have what we call the Edwumawura Programme. And this is the entrepreneurial programme,” the NDC flagbearer announced.

He asserted: “Nobody says you must finish school and become an employee. You can finish school and become an employer and employ employees.”

“And so every year, we want to target 10,000 youth entrepreneurs to set up their own businesses,” the former president said.

He noted: “We’ll mentor them, we’ll monitor them, we’ll supervise them, until they are able to stand on their own feet and they will employ their colleagues instead of becoming employees [themselves].”

Tax exemptions

“We’ll exempt new and small businesses that are registered – that is small and medium enterprises – and personal income taxes of those businesses from the first two years after they are incorporated. So if you’re a young person under this programme and you set up your business, for two years you’ll not pay any corporate income tax. You’ll start paying after two years. Because we want the business to be able to get a grounding and be able to stand on its feet before they start paying taxes,” Mr John Mahama promises.