The Vice President of the Republic and presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has announced that the Digital Youth Hub, currently under construction at the University of Ghana campus, will be completed and launched in December 2024.
This initiative is a collaboration between the University of Ghana (UG), the Ministry of Finance (MoF), and the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation (MoCD), resulting in the creation of the Digital Youth Hub (DYH) at UG. It marks the first of several technology hubs being established across the country as part of the Ghana CARES programme.
The Digital Youth Hub will provide an innovative environment for young Ghanaian tech entrepreneurs to connect, collaborate, launch startups, and develop sustainable technology-driven businesses, with direct support from the stakeholders who contributed to its establishment.
During his inspection of the ongoing construction of the Digital Youth Hub at the University of Ghana on Tuesday, October 8, 2024, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia highlighted that this initiative will be replicated in Cape Coast, Kumasi, and Tamale to benefit the youth across the country.
According to the Vice President, the digital youth center will significantly support technology entrepreneurs and establish the country as a regional skills hub in Africa. The center will feature an auditorium with a seating capacity of 2,200, making it the largest on the University of Ghana campus.
The digital youth hub is part of a greater agenda for Ghana to build a digital space to accelerate digitalisation because all the empirical evidence shows a direct positive correlation between digitalisation and economic growth. The countries that can take advantage of the 4th Industrial Revolution are the countries that are going to create economic growth. So, we need to make sure that the youth within our country have the skills to participate in this 4th Industrial Revolution
If you don’t have digital skills, you are going to be left behind, and I think that this initiative to create digital youth hubs is good so you can grow your entrepreneurs and attract investors. This is part of a greater agenda for Ghana to build a digital space to accelerate digitalisation because all the empirical evidence shows a direct positive correlation between digitalization and economic growth
The Digital Youth Hub is part of a broader strategy for Ghana in terms of building the digital space. What you are seeing here today is phenomenal. This is just months of work, and from what the contractor tells us, we will have Phase 1 commissioned in December
The countries that can take advantage of the 4th Industrial Revolution are the countries that are going to create economic growth. So we need to make sure that the youth within our country have the skills to participate in this 4th Industrial Revolution
During the Vice President’s visit, Minister for Finance Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam provided an overview of the Ghana CARES programme. He stated that, as part of the program’s various initiatives, the Digital Youth Hub aims to train one million digital entrepreneurs who can leverage their skills for profitable ventures. Additionally, Finance Minister Adam announced that a $5 million endowment fund will be created to support the management and operations of the Digital Youth Hub once it is completed.
Everything that is required to make it a complete village for the provision of skills for the youth of Ghana as his excellency, the Vice President, said he has promised to train one million youth in digital skills, so this is the platform and the infrastructure that will help in the training of these youth
Mrs. Ursula Owusu Ekuful, Minister for Communication and Digitalisation and Member of Parliament for the Ablekuma South constituency, emphasized that her ministry is dedicated to ensuring the timely completion of the Digital Youth Hub.
According to Mrs. Ursula Owusu Ekuful, the project began in November 2022, with actual construction starting in January 2024.
The University of Ghana allocated five acres of land for the project, with an option for an additional five acres to support the construction of hostel facilities. The project architects, Messrs arc-AURA, and contractors, Messrs Mustek Engineering Limited, assured the Vice President and his team that Phase I will be completed by early December 2024.
