…as EKGS graduated 100 students
The Ghana Tourism Federation (GHATOF), has called on government to financially assist young people who want to venture into the culinary and the catering industry.
Speaking at the 39th graduation and exhibition of the EKGS Culinary Institute in Accra, on the theme, ‘Ghana beyond Aid; the role of the Culinary Industry’, GHATOF’s President, Bela Ahu, explained that the culinary and catering sub-sector contributes almost 40 percent to the hospitality industry.
“It is for that reason that it has become imperative for government to consciously design a special incentive package targeted at the sector to motivate the teaming youth who want to venture into the industry. It’ll also enable the sector to expand and absorb more people,” she said.
About 90 percent of hotels and accommodation units operating in the country’s hotel and hospitality sector, provide food services to customers.
This GHATOF said, calls for the training of more qualified caterers and cooks to assume such positions is in order to reduce the ever-increasing youth unemployment rate.
“It’s not even about being employed at a hotel. This qualification enables you to be entrepreneurs, manning your own enterprises,” she added.
The Director of the Institute, Efua Goode-Obeng Kyei, said the call for ‘Ghana beyond aid’ behooves all Ghanaians to find resources available in this country to develop it.
That, she said, calls for majority of citizens to be in employment in order to pay taxes for the development of Ghana.
“That is what we provide at EKGS, training and equipping young people to be self-employed to make them earn a living genuinely” she said.
In all, 100 students, with training in cake making decoration and sugar arts, cookery arts, pastry arts and balloon/ribbon and floral décor arts, graduated.
By Wisdom Jonny-Nuekpe
