As part of government’s plans to encourage and nurture the entrepreneurial skills of students, the Ministry of Business Development has inaugurated the Sunyani Technical University branch of the School Entrepreneurship Initiative at a ceremony in Sunyani.
The initiative, which is being spearheaded the Ministry of Business Development through the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan, primarily seeks to equip students with entrepreneurial skills to enable them set up their own businesses rather than becoming job seekers upon the completion of school.
Speaking at the inauguration, the Pro-Vice Chancellor of the Sunyani Technical University, Dr. Justice Solomon Korantwi-Barimah announced that the university was re-defining itself to become an entrepreneurial institution by actively encouraging and training students into self-employment.
To this end, the university, through its Business, Entrepreneurship Development and External Funding Unit (BEDEFU), has commenced the formation of departmental Entrepreneurship Clubs (EDCs), which is also known as Entrepreneurship Development Cells (E-Cells).
“The university has further established and operationalized an Entrepreneurship Hub which focuses on entrepreneurial practices with the donation of some computers and accessories from the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication in September this year”, he added.
Dr. Korantwi-Barimah said as Ghana moves toward private sector-driven economy, it would be critical to ensure that a considerable number of students who graduate in science, technology, engineering and management studies become people with creativity, multi-faceted skills and diversified entrepreneurial knowledge.
He encouraged students to take advantage of the opportunities provided them through the School Entrepreneurship Initiative and the university to acquire the skills needed to be successful in future.
For his part, the Programme Manager at the Ministry of Business Development, Kwadwo Frimpong encouraged the students not to under-rate any business idea that would come in their minds but to think through it carefully and make efforts to realise it.
“What makes business is ideas, but ideas don’t’ make business. What makes business are well thought through ideas…so what entails in business making is a lot of thinking, thinking and thinking…..” he explained.