SEI to create entrepreneurial ecosystem for students
Accra, Nov 15, GNA- Mr Kofi Twum Boafo, Communication Specialist, Ministry of Business Development, Office of the President, says the School Entrepreneurship Initiative (SEI) is a deliberate effort to create entrepreneurial ecosystem to engender job creation.
He said the concept would change the narrative from “graduate unemployment” to “graduate job creation” as an index in the employment sector within five years.
Mr Boafo said these at the inauguration of School Entrepreneurship Initiative Club and the launch of Campus Business Pitch at the Ho Technical University (HTU) on Thursday.
The event coincided with the second HTU GOIL/CIMG Entrepreneurship and Innovation Awards, where students compete for ideas.
He encouraged tertiary and second-cycle institutions to form entrepreneurial business clubs under the auspices of the Ministry, Ghana Education Service and the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP).
Mr Boafo said the SEI was carefully crafted to inject entrepreneurial acumen into the school system, a panacea to solving graduate unemployment.
He said the grand finale of the Business Plan Competition would be held in Accra, early next year, where students would present ideas to a jury with winners having the opportunity to visit and appreciate global entrepreneurs.
Mr Boafo encouraged students to take advantage of the SEI and fashion out business plans and be assured of government’s support to realising those dreams.
He disclosed that about 10,000 students would benefit from the scheme annually affecting two million students in general within the five-year period.
Professor Ben Q. Honyenuga, Vice-Chancellor of HTU, said the opportunities being offered under the concept of entrepreneurship for students were real and urged students to position themselves to take the prospects that came with it.
He said likes of Mark Zuckerburg of Facebook fame, began at the incubation level and with time scaled-up to become a global brand insisting “no beginning is too small, just dream and dream big. In Ghana there is space for everybody and there will be something positive for all to try hands on.”
Prof. Honyenuga said to achieve the mission and vision of technical Universities, entrepreneurship and innovation must take centre-stage adding that the Faculties were ready to assume their mandate and impact students.
Mr Harrison P. Adjimah, Coordinator, Centre for Entrepreneurship Innovation and Technology Transfer (CEIT) said government’s policy to assist students hone their entrepreneurship skills and acumen would break new boundaries and make students more versatile and relevant to create jobs and employ others.
He said the HTU remained the only tertiary institution where entrepreneurship was taught as a core subject and demanded full support from the Ministry.
Mr Adjimah, also, Head of Department, Multidisciplinary Studies said promoting entrepreneurial partnerships among students would unlock many opportunities provided students put thinking to problem-solving issues in the society.
He said one of the emerging business incubators from the HTU, the Digital Security Services was alive and asked for support from the Ministry to scale-up for the market.
Dr Ametefee Normanyo, Dean of Faculty of Applied Social Science, said students had up till March 5, 2020, to submit pitches that would be targeted at solving societal problems, sustainable, scalable and with tendency to create jobs.
He said mouth-watering prizes were up for grasps and urged students to think out-of-the-box to create sellable business plans to employ.
